Posted by the Bells on Feb 9, 2018
When the Maze Runner series was first made into a movie in 2014, fans like myself were excited to see how the story would play out onscreen. However, after seeing the final installment of the films, I am left disappointed and disgruntled. In rating the Maze Runner: The Death Cure, I would give it four of ten stars.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure is the final movie in the series and had been anticipated for a long time by fans. After the main actor Dylan O’Brien (Thomas) was injured during filming, the production was stopped temporarily until he fully recovered. Now after three years since The Scorch Trials was released in 2015, fans get a final look into the world of The Maze Runner.
The Death Cure’s plot is described as saving their friends by breaking into the legendary last city, a city controlled by the villain organization, “WCKD.” It is stated in the description that anyone who makes it out alive will get the answers to the questions the “Gladers” have been asking since they first arrived in the original maze (in the first two movies). Though the movie did answer many questions that popped up in the earlier movies and it was supposed to provide closure to viewers, I was left with a lot of questions and criticisms by the end of the film.
The movie was longer than I expected: around two hours and thirty minutes. Granted, the filmmakers tried to stuff the last two books from the series into this movie. That’s right, two books, one movie. I felt I was missing a lot of what was going on and was barely able to keep up with what was happening and why. The movie follows a fairly steady plotline, however, there were a few things that happened that weren’t explained well enough.
In my personal opinion, taking a break from production affected the acting from the rest of the characters. The acting and stunts were mediocre but could have been cool if improved upon. There were some stunts where I saw that the stunt people did the motion before the timed event. For instance, there was a stunt person jumping something like thirty seconds before an explosion; and another where two guards turned around late when a glass door behind them had already opened so they could stop the fight happening inside.
One character that was over dramatized was the assistant head villain Janson (played by Aidan Gillen). I felt that he could have performed his role better. They used his character to be more “jump scare” (a film technique used to startle the audience) focused and it was really a waste of time. The jump scares weren’t even good. There was a scene where he waits behind a character until the camera pans all the way up to show both their faces and the other character’s shocked reaction.
Stuffing so much into one movie hasn’t worked before for others, so I don’t know why the filmmakers thought it would be a good idea to shove two books into this one. I think that was their downfall. If they had spaced out the movie more and worked to fill the gaps between the holes, the movie would have been better. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it. However, if you do choose to go see it, I recommend going back and watching the first two movies if you have a chance. Since it has been three years since the second installment it would help to have a refresher course beforehand.
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