Say what you will about the first film, but I liked Maze Runner. I love reading post-apocalyptic dystopian science-fiction novels and watching those being translated on screen, yes even the young-adult ones. And I can say, without a doubt and the fear of ridicule (I know some of you will be judging me), that the second instalment of the series, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, is by far the best we have seen in the genre since, well, Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Divergent sucked, Hunger Games Mockingjay — Part 1 was boring and Insurgent was downright painful. So, when I saw characters on screen that had me invested in them and screaming and cheering for them when they made some unbelievable getaways I knew this was a winner. 

The Scorch Trials gets you from the start, especially when one Petyr Baelish, umm I mean Janson (Aidan Gillen) does a Littlefinger, by which I mean looks suave (in a turtleneck sweater and jacket) and acts crafty, with the Maze survivors Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) and Jojen Reed… oops I mean Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). 

Yep, there are a few treats for Game of Thrones fans and not just in terms of deaths and plot twists and betrayals. Oh, let me explain for those not clued into GoT (what are you, living under a rock?!) — Gillen plays Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in GoT, Brodie-Sangster plays Jojen Reed (who died in Season Four) and Nathalie Emmanuel who plays Missandei in GoT also crops up in a gun-toting avatar. Alan Tudyk’s presence as Marcus made me squeal. It is just a Firefly fangirl thing.

But I’m being unfair to the film. Okay, so you have seen so many teenagers trying to survive in the post-apocalyptic world that you may have confused your Thomases with your Fours and your Gales —  yes, so have I — but The Scorch Trials actually manages to keep you engaged and not looking at the watch to see whether it is time for the interval.

Thomas, Minho, Teresa and Newt are immunes, that is people who are immune to the virus that turns people into flesh-eating zombie like beings, and escape the Maze only to end up in a secure facility commanded by a very shady Janson. Here, they discover more survivors like them waiting to be chosen for transfer to a “safe haven”. Well, it seems like it doesn’t exist and Team Thomas have to make a break from the facility if they want to be alive and end up somewhere in the desert, with the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance. The desert landscape thereafter made me think wistfully of Tatooine, the desert planet Luke Skywalker came from. 

They dodge WCKD, the organisation that put them in the Maze in the first place and now wants to harvest their blood to create a cure for the deadly virus. They escape zombies. They outwit mercenaries to find the rebel group that is helping immunes get away from WCKD. Do they win in the end? Of course not! How will they make the third film then?  

Erm, of course there is the whole good-looking-boy-overlooks-plain-looking-girl-who-is-kickass-for-the-good-looking-girl-who-later-betrays-the-good-looking-boy pissing off plot point. But the plain-looking girl, who should have been the heroine in the first place, at least becomes a saviour… hurray.

And despite this very YA trope, I’m eagerly looking forward to the third and final film, definitely more than I am to Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2. Here’s why: a) I never liked the Mockingjay book b) Part 1 was not very encouraging and c) (Spoiler! Spoiler! Spoiler!) I want to know if the film keeps to the tragic ending of the books or changes it.

Chandreyee Chatterjee

I agree/disagree with this fangirl take on The Scorch Trials because.... Tell t2@abp.in