Maze Runner: The Death Cure Movie review

Maze Runner: The Death Cure
U/A: Action, sci-fi, thriller
Director: Wes Ball
Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Rosa Salazar, Ki Hong Lee, Will Poulter, Giancarlo Esposito, Dexter Darden, Aidan Gillen, Patricia Clarkson, Barry Pepper, Jacob Lofland, Nathalie Emmanuel, Walton Goggins, Katherine McNamara

Rating:

An action spectacle that ply's it on for the gallery, this concluding chapter to the Young Adult dystopian trilogy makes no bones about it all being designed to thrill. The narrow genre of movies that such YA fascinations fit into should now die a living day, hopefully! Thankfully the 'Hunger' for these life-threatening Games has diminished considerably and 'The Death Cure' despite going all out to thrill, is expected to find it tough going at the Box-Office.

A delayed coming, The Death Cure has lost much of its curiosity value along the way. The Scorch Trials left Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), and their friend from the Glade, Frypan (Dexter Darden), in a group trying to escape the reach of WCKD. But their fellow Glader Minho (Ki Hong Lee) - is still in the hands of their enemy. So this episode is basically about saving Minho.

Watch trailer of Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Director Wes Ball and screenwriter T.S. Nowlin fashion a trilogy capper that has its heart in the right place (If only the mind was in sync too). Thematically and tone-wise this film fits in well enough. But the multiple plot threads and over-complicated narrative makes it tough going for those expecting a simple and effective, straightforward actioner. The world building here is pretty much fractured. Relying heavily on what came before it, to develop context, The Death Cure sways in and out of struggles that mean little even though they spell explosiveness. Conflicts are paper-thin reasons to get into action mode and the villainy happens without much cause.

Thomas may have risked his life to save his friend but those kind of stakes are so programmed into the YA sub-genre culture that it feels jaded and uninspiring. The actors are sincere enough, though. This glorified adaptation of one among the book series written by James Dashner (who does a brief cameo in the movie), has a futuristic zeal that is complicated by jittery, hand-held camerawork. It's an experience that veers to off-putting and may not develop the kind of excitement this film hopes to generate!

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