Movie Reaction: Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Formula: (Allegiant * Maze Runner: The ScorchTrials) / Insurgent

The Maze Runner franchise is in a unique position. It was made is direct response to The Hunger Games as another Young Adult dystopia with a high concept pitch. There were a lot of these movies. Divergent hit bigger initially and got two sequels with massively diminished returns. Most of these movies (The Fifth Wave, The Host, and you could argue Ender's Game and The Giver) failed to catch on and died after a single film. Maze Runner did just well enough to warrant a sequel. The sequel did just well enough on a moderate budget to warrant another sequel. Maze Runner is conveniently the minimum threshold for how successful a YA dystopia needs to be to keep going.

I've seen nearly all of these YA dystopias because I like dystopias and I think it's fun to see the big idea they are built around. Inevitably, they all look the same by the end. Part 1 has some cool idea around it - a deathmatch, a sorting algorithm, or yes, a giant maze. Part 2 may try to retread the original idea. But, by part 3, it's inevitably about taking down the powers that be, normally located in a big tower in the middle of the only big city left. So, forgive me when I say that it's hard for me to tell The Death Cure apart from other 3rd and 4th installments. I'm assuming that anyone reading this has either already seen the first two movies or doesn't care much about the plot, so I won't bother with an extended recap of this film. Basically, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and company find out that there's a big city and go to rescue Minho (Ki Hong Lee) there. Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Brenda (Rosa Salazar), Frypan (Dexter Darden), and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) are still with Thomas. Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) is still with Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) and Janson (Aidan Gillan), working for WCKD. A familiar face from ealier in the series returns. I won't spoil that moderate surprise, but it is who you are probably thinking of even though it doesn't make much sense.

For a modestly budgeted action movie (~$62 million), I have to say, the action sequences were pretty well done. The opening sequence (one that Dylan O'Brien got injurred shooting, which set the production back nearly a year) is an impressive train heist. The end of the film is complete mayhem and looks the part. It's not a banner example of how to stage action - it still relies way too much on convenient staging and timing and none of the villains can aim for shit - but it's competent and uses its budget well.

Maze Runner wasn't the star vehicle for Dylan O'Brien the way other films were for Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games), Shailene Woodley (Divergent), or even Chloe Grace Moretz (The Fifth Wave), so the series has always relied a lot on a deep ensemble. There's almost too many people. Someone like Nathalie Emmanuel is barely even in this movie, for example. I'm pretty neutral on O'Brien. I would've like more Rosa Salazar and less Kaya Scodelario, although I'm not sure how much of that is performance vs. one actress having a more interesting character than the other. It's always fun to compare a franchise you love with one that you tolerate. I'm not very invested in this series. A lot of the character moments or call-backs that felt unearned to me probably worked for bigger fans the way that the same thing in, say, a Harold and Kumar movie works for me more than non-fans.

Considering what this film is - the January release of the final installment of a franchise that peaked at #30 for the year it was released in the box office, has no bankable stars, and never had too much money thrown at it - it's hard to complain with the result. I could savage it about plot holes and contrivances if I wanted to, but what's the point? It's exactly as good and bad as the first two films and ends the series well. That's enough for me.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend