FilmSnobReviews

Title: Maze Runner: The Death Cure
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Wes Ball
Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario
Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins

What It Is: The grand finale of the YA series centered around the ironically named corporate WCKD and their attempts to use teenagers as a cure for a disease known as the “Flare”. Thomas (O’Brien) our hero from the previous two is back! With him are his gaggle of freedom fighters all searching for their missing friend Minho (Hong Lee) and running away from WCKD’s leader Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) and her right hand…man? Teresa (Scodelario), who betrayed the group previously.

What We Think: This was the perfect time to end this series. Where other YA adaptation of varying quality from The Hunger Games (good) to the Divergent Series (bad) have since ended this still had this very last film to go.That the film was delayed an entire year didn’t help matters. Dylan O’Brien almost died filming the movie’s opening, a scene that wasn’t even in the book. Not as good as Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials or the original Maze Runner. Those films were just the right length while this one at almost two and a half hours is just far FAR too long. O’Brien is still good at making you root for Thomas but the villains and sub-protagonist come off as too one-dimensional. Ball has kept the vision of the trilogy consistent and for that he deserves praise.

Our Grade: D, The least thrilling of the series this trilogy petered out like some sort of scolded dog over to the corner. Much like the other two properties the last film in the series (Mockingjay Part 2) and (Insurgent, whose last film we still haven’t seen) was the worst in the series. Unless your a diehard fan of this series the final entry is certainly the first in the series I’d recommend you skip. The YA genre has seemed, in recent years, to have fallen by the wayside. Whatever you think of it it’s a bit surprising to see something that was all the rage in 2014-2015…when all of these adaptations began and the Twilight saga was nearing its conclusion. Regardless there’s no real need to finish the story here.