The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials gears the saga into another level of dark and mystery, raising the stakes even higher, and making the emotional stakes high. The movie lays you down right away in its dreary, wide terrain, the Scorch, where life is more demanding to assimilate and challenges utterly inextinguishable. The atmosphere is dark and uncompromised, reminiscent of the bleakness of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and I honestly found myself getting drawn into the struggle that the characters have to overcome in struggling to find some light in the abyss. The visuals are very successful in describing the world of ravaged and wrecked with wide shots used to focus on an extent of their world which made me feel more vulnerable and adventurous.
The story expounds the enigma of WCKD, the much acclaimed organization that acts as the strings behind the curtains, and unveils new dimensions to the mysteries of the past and future of the characters. The characters (Thomas and his friends) are no longer attempting to free themselves; they are into a battle to find out more about the bizarre intentions of WCKD. Such a switch brought into their trip an extra fulfilment of a goal. The partisans that they join adds even more vitality and moral shading to the proceedings, upping the emotional ante even higher. It does not drag on as the pace is rather quick, the action scenes are properly choreographed, and quiet scenes of reflections present tension and comradeship.
Although The Scorch Trials provides exhilarating action scenes and poses important questions regarding the issues of control and ethics, the latter also comes across as a bit patchy. In some plot twists, it feels like things are moving too fast and some character arcs fall short of being filled out that I could use a little more emotional connection. However, in the aspect of suspense, action, and mystery, I could not but be fascinated and gripped by the film. It appealed to me as an account of surviving and rising up against the odds, a desperate call of hope against a fallen world, and as such can be called a strong follow-up to the saga.
