Review of Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) by Leon B — 04 Jun 2018

Maze Runner: The Death Cure.

(2018).

Plot:

Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final mission. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all! Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.

Review:

Although I wasn't a big fan of the first 2 movies in this franchise, I actually didn't think that this film was too bad. It's full of intensity from the beginning to the end, and the action scenes were pretty impressive but the acting was awful, especially from the lead character Thomas (Dylan O'Brien). I was also not impressed with the predictable storyline but the whole "race against time" element made it a watchable film, especially as it was the last movie in the trilogy. Anyway, this movie see's an older Thomas, fighting against the WCKD to try and rescue his close friend, Minho (Ki Hong Lee), with his fellow Gladers. After failing the first mission, he still manages to rescue other Immunes from a train but Thomas is still determined to go back for Minho, who is being tortured in the "Last City" by the WCKD, who are looking for a cure for the deadly virus. During the night, Thomas decides to leave the camp, against the orders of Vince (Barry Pepper), who is the leader of the Right Arm, and he makes his way to the "Last City" to try and save Minho. 2 of his close friends, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Frypan (Dexter Darden) decide to follow Thomas on his rescue mission but they get attacked by Cranks, who are humans infected with the Flare. They soon realise that they are ambushed, and with no ammunition they have no way to turn, until they are saved by 2 other Gladers, Jorge (Giancario Esposito) and Brenda (Rosa Salazar), who also join them on there mission. When they finally get to the wall of the Last City, which protects the city from the Cranks, they come across a group of protesters who are fighting to get let into the city, so they use them to try and get inside. The WCKD start to fire at the protesters, so the Gladers have to run for cover, with many of the protesters losing there life's. They are then captured by a group of hooded men, who are led by Gally (Will Poulter), who is also fighting against the WCKD. He then takes the Gladers to his leader, Lawrence (Walton Goggins), who helps them enter the Last City through a secret entrance. Gally then tells Thomas that he can get them into the WCKD headquarters with the help of Teresa (Kaye Scodelario), who is a former Glader but is now helping the WCKD to produce a cure, using the Immune for experiments. They then kidnap Teresa, who gives them ways to get through the security in the Last City but they have to battle against the ruthless Jason (Aidan Gillen), and his henchmen to get to Minho. When Lawrence realises that the Last City's security system has been compromised, he forms an attack against the WCKD, which makes it difficult for the Gladers to plan an escape. Will the Gladers make it out on time, before the whole of the Last City is destroyed! I know that it sounds a bit confusing but believe me, it is pretty straight forward, especially if you have watched the previous movies. To be honest, I couldn't remember who was who from the previous movies but I still found it easy to follow. Aidan Gillen played the villain well but the Gladers really needed a stand-alone hero, who actually had some skills. I didn't have high expectations for this film, especially when I saw that the whole cast was returning from the previous movies but the action scenes really saved the day. I think I have to watch all 3 movies together to actually get a true feel for the Maze Runner franchise. You can watch this film without watching the other 2 movies but I personally think that I would have enjoyed it more if I knew who was who, and what was what. Anyway, this film is worth a watch for it's action and CGI but from a storyline and acting point of view, it could have been much better. Watchable!

Round-Up:

This movie was directed by Wes Ball, who also brought you the Maze Runner and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. As the Maze Runner franchise was his first projects for the big screen, I can honestly say that he achieved a lot, especially as all 3 movies made a profit at the box office but I can't help thinking that it could have been much better if an experienced director and an experienced actor took the lead. With that aside, it certainly went out with a bang, with the number of explosions and battle scenes throughout but I still can't see it going down as an all-time classic.

Budget: $62million.

Worldwide Gross: $285million.

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller.

Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaye Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dexter Darden, Will Poulter, Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Aiken Gillen, Barry Pepper, Nathalie Emmanuel, Katherine McNamara and Walton Goggins. 6/10.