Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Look at that, a Young Adult novel series that actually completed all of its film adaptations! It’s about time one of them did!

Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the trilogy capper to the Maze Runner franchise, sees our original Gladers in hot water as they try to fight against WCKD, the organization responsible for harvesting Immunes like themselves for the purpose of finding a cure to the Flare virus that has ravaged the world and decimated the population. Continuing their fight with members of the resistance group called The Right Arm, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers must find a way to stop WCKD in their tracks before the resistance is destroyed, or worse, everyone is captured and experimented on, a fate that no one will surely survive.

Still somehow finding ways to distance themselves from the source material that these films are based on, the filmmakers have made a sort of “alternate timeline/alternate dimension” version of events from the books, changing and swapping out set pieces, characters, story beats and ideas as they see fit, then molding and shaping said changes to work within the structure this new film universe. Now usually I would have a bone to pick with the way an adaptation like this handles the books, but the previous films – including this one – have been made well enough to a point that they can stand on their own and entertain accordingly, even when the script and certain odd creative choices threaten to bring the film down to less than mediocre levels.

That being said, this movie still isn’t that great in the grand scheme of things (the original is still my favorite), but it’s just fun enough to watch while not asking too much of you as long as you remember what happened in the last two films. As usual, Dylan O’Brien is still a pretty damn good leading man as Thomas, and has more potential than Hollywood seems giving him credit for. He delivers his lines and actions in a way that makes it clear he has potential past this franchise, but a better script and story need to come along with it if he’s to move past these “cash grab” sequels. Surrounding him is a supporting cast that does what they need to, nothing more and nothing less, Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s Newt really the only other standout of the group. Unfortunately, and this includes the roped in adult characters, no one else in the cast really leaves a mark, a problem that is mostly laid at the feet of a script that really isn’t asking them to do much other than fill up time and space until the inevitable, high-stakes conclusion. Outside of some insanely cool, mostly real stunt work which can be more so credited to returning director Wes Ball than anything else, the script is more so a means to an end than anything of real substance or weight. Mix in the afore mentioned departures from the books and a far too long runtime, and it’s tough to see this film as anything but popcorn entertainment, which is fortunately something that it actually does pretty well.

A closing chapter that’s just as solid and mediocre as both films that came before it, Maze Runner: The Death Cure finishes this franchise on a safe note by continuing the series’ divergence from the source material and delivering a perfectly decent film that will most likely satisfy anyone that still cares enough to watch this story finished up in the theater. And while any newcomers might be a little too far gone to truly understand or appreciate what the filmmakers are trying to do with this finale, there’s enough to like here for them to at least enjoy themselves and not feel like they’ve wasted their time. The action is surprisingly competent and fun, and the cast still mostly holds their own for the duration of the film, but actually being able to conclude this franchise is a big sticking point in a landscape that kills these types of adaptations before they’ve even begun. I don’t know if it’s necessarily worth a watch unless you’re a fan, but either way, one could do worse with their time in this barren, beginning of the year wasteland that is the multiplex.