The Scorch Trials. Easily the best book in James Dashner’s three part series, but does it leap from book to screen as well as the series’ name sake? The short answer is no.
The Scorch Trials starts off in the same fashion as The Maze Runner, throwing us straight into the action and into Thomas’ position of confusion. The open scene has a fantastic transition between a shot of young Thomas on the bus to WICKED’s head quarters before the bus tips up, revealing Thomas within the lift of the first movie. This was seamless and worked even better considering that the opening scene is a dream sequence.
Though if you’re a fan of the book series and enjoy film adaptions which stick to the narrative of the book, I’m afraid this isn’t the film for you. The first film had minor changes which simply moved the order of events to a few major changes like the death of Alby. The Scorch Trials on the other hand is one major detour from the fantastic plot of the second book. First of all the group discover there are several Glades as a pose to just discovering an all female Glade with one male. The plot line that follows for the next twenty minutes is lifted straight from Logan’s Run, and feels a bit drawn out.
My main issue with this film is that it seems to lack a set direction. In the book the characters are still part of the trial of the maze, hence the word trials in the title. In the film the group are in the Scorch purely because they wanted to escape WICKED. This takes away the direction that WICKED’s trials gave the characters in the book.
In addition to this, character relationships were changed drastically within the film. The group of female Gladers like Aris. Rachel, the female Glade’s version of Thomas, is mentioned so causally when she is found dead that they might as well not include her. Rachel was a massive part of Aris’ back story but the film simply glances over her.
Now this film isn’t without its redeeming factors. The cast, as they did in the previous film, gave their all towards this film, giving us several memorable and like able characters. As well as this the cranks, much like the Grievers, look as though they have been plucked out of a horror film,giving us the same terror as the characters. There are several jump scares which had me jumping out of my seat as the journey enters dark, foreboding places.
The action was tight and engrossing, making us want to see more fights and battles, something I’m sure the next film will be filled with. However I feel that the changes made to the characters was the hardest thing to swallow. In the second book, Aris is distrusted by all of the boys and is hated by his female Gladers. In the film the boys trust him from the start and the girls are delighted to see him later on in the film. As well as this Brenda and Jorge lack the importance they had within the novel.
I feel that this film tried to be what the Hunger Games is, changing the role of Chancellor Paige into a true antagonist, making her a target for Thomas who has really grown to resent her. This just mirrors Katniss wanting to kill Snow. Overall I think that fans of the first film will enjoy this film but fans of the book might find this film a bit of a let down in comparison to the book.
But hey, that’s just my opinion. I suggest that you go and see the film for yourself. Who knows, you may enjoy it more than I did. Thank you for reading my review, see you next week Champs.
The Spirit Champion 