Scorch Trials: Movie Review

Movie: The Scorch Trials

Director: Wes Ball

Writers: T.S. Nowlin who only skimmed the book

Genre: Action, Sci-fi, Thriller

Length: 2 hours 11 minutes

Rating: ☆☆☆☆ – Very good

Read The Scorch Trials book review and The Maze Runner movie review!

Stars:

Dylan Bæ’Brien
as Thomas

 

 

 

Ki Hong Lee
as Minho

 

Thomas Brodie-Sangster
as Newt♥

 

 

Kaya Scodelario
as Teresea

 

Remind me what it’s about…
At the end of The Maze Runner, the Gladers get out of The Maze and think they finally escaped WCKD. But we know that The Maze was only Phase I and our poor Gladers are still in WCKD’s hands and about the enter Phase II. That’s about where the similarities between the book and movie end – before the movie starts. In the movie, the Gladers try to escape from WCKD into the  Scorch to reach a rebel group in the mountains, the Right Hand.

But really both The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials books and movies can be summed up in these two gifs:

What did you think?
I really liked The  Scorch Trials (speaking strictly as a movie, I’ll talk more about how it’s vastly different from the book later) and not just because my boyfriend Dylan O’Brien makes looking dirty look so good. He also makes getting clean look so good. Also I will love any movie that features my angel baby prince Newt and my bad-ass best friend Minho.

But I promise I liked more than just the cast/characters. The movie was exciting, suspenseful and fun. Is it going to win any Oscars? No. Is it entertaining and a good way to spend two hours? Yes! There’s a good mix of exciting action sequences and less intense, plot-driven scenes. I hate when movies are just action action action and there’s no lull for me to catch my breath. While Scorch Trials is far from slow-paced, it’s not so fast-paced that it’s overwhelming.

Also cranks are scary. 😱

Was it a good adaption?
LOL no. Here’s what I imagine happened:

Wes Ball/T.S. Nowlin: *reads The Maze Runner*
Wes Ball: What a great book!
T.S. Nowlin: Let’s make a movie!
Wes Ball/T.S. Nowlin: *makes The Maze Runner movie*
Wes Ball: Boy did that go well! We should make the sequel!
T.S. Nowlin: Yes! Have you read the book?
Wes Ball: …
T.S. Nowlin: …
Wes Ball: No.
T.S. Nowlin: Me neither!
Wes Ball: Great, let’s do it!
Wes Ball/T.S. Nowlin: *jumping high five*

The movie is such a departure from the book that I didn’t know what was going to happen next for most of it and I read the book twice. I said in my Scorch Trials trailer breakdown that I thought the movie would be different, but I didn’t anticipate quite how different it would be. There were pretty much only two scenes in the movie that stayed fairly true the book. After watching the trailer (hundreds of times) I thought the movie would start very differently but meet back up with book my the middle/end. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was so incredibly different that it astounds me. I don’t even know what’s going to happen in Death Cure. Everything is different.

One of the things that bothered me most about the changes was Brenda. While the book and movie were both really different, I still enjoyed both of them (maybe even the movie a little more?). But one thing I definitely liked more in the book was Brenda. Soon as I saw the way Brenda was cast and styled I could tell I would be disappointed. Rosa Salazar was bad-ass and tough, but not as flirty and sassy and book Brenda.

Should I watch it?
Yes! If you haven’t read the book (WHY HAVEN’T YOU?!) you will love it. If you have read the book, pretend you haven’t and that the movie is something brand new that you don’t know anything about.

Find Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials playing at a theater near you!

Here’s the trailer which still looks dope AF even after seeing the movie

The Maze Runner: Movie Review

Movie: The Maze Runner

Director: Wes Ball

Writers: Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers & T.S. Nowlin

Genre: Sci-fi,  apocalyptic, action

Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ½ – Great

Stars:

 Dylan O’Brien as Thomas

 Kaya Scodelario as Teresea

 Will Poulter as Gally

 Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt♥

Read The Maze Runner book review!

Remind me what it’s about…
Thomas (love of my life O’Brien) wakes up in some kind of cargo elevator (called The Box) that takes him up to an open field and he is greeted by Gally (Poulter) who is surrounded by other young/teenage boys. Their leader Alby (Aml Ameen) tries to tell Thomas that he is in a place called the Glade but Thomas is freaking out because he doesn’t remember anything about himself or his past, not even his name. So, they lock him up in DIY prison until he can get a hold of himself. Once Thomas gets his shit together, Newt♥ (Brodie-Sangster) takes him on the tour of The Glade and explains how they keep The Glade running and that each boy does his part. Thomas also finds out that The Glade is actually the center of giant maze that they can’t escape.

The next day The Box comes up again. Normally The Box only comes up once a month, so the Gladers curiously gather around to see what came up so quickly. They were even more shocked to find that it was a girl (Scodelario). ~MyStErIoUs~

What did you think?
I LOooOOooOVED IT. It was spectacular and definitely was worth staying up too late and getting 4 hours of sleep that night to see the premiere. The utterly adorkable Dylan O’B(ae)rien perfectly wears his dirty blue button-up shirt captures Thomas on the silver screen. His curious, rebellious and good hearted spirit was spot on. This glowing review is not affected by my undying love for the swoon-worthy and charming ways of Mr. O’Brien off screen. No, but really. He was a great Thomas. The whole cast was great. Although Thomas Brodie-Sangster is a little littler than I wanted Newt♥ to be, how you can you be disappointed with a face like this?

The Maze Runner runs (hehe) almost two hours long but goes by in a flash. It’s exciting, and thrilling but not overwhelming. There’s a perfect balance of fast-paced action and slower, more-detailed plot advancement. The movie was interesting, suspenseful, funny and wonderful.

Was it a good adaption?
It was a perfect adaption of the book. It wasn’t all directly from the words of James Dashner, but every change made sense for the movie and made it better. Despite the changes the movie still stayed true to the story, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything majorly important. It eliminated some of the more supernatural aspects of the book which helped the story seem a lot more realistic which I loved. One of my favorite changes is Teresea, I didn’t care about her character in the book but she’s a crazy BAMF in the movie and I love her.

All the details and changes were actually improvements to The Maze Runner.  Not to say that I think that the movie is better than the book, you still get so much more from the characters and the story in the book, just that the changes that were made were good ones. The only thing that I feel like I missed from the book, was Newt’s limp. But I’m trying not to be nit picky.

Should I watch it?
Yasss bish yass! Buy or rent The Maze Runner from Amazon right now.

Here’s the trailer, if you’ve read the book you’ll see that it’s perfect and if you’ll understand how perfect it is: