TheDeath Cure is the final edition of Maze Runner franchise. Based on a trilogy of novels by James Dashnerby, the producers of these adaptations wisely chose to present this last story in one single film—instead of the popular idea of splitting the last tale into two (like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2).Perhaps the fate of Divergent, another teen-dystopian-book-to-movie Reviewfor The Death Cure. The Death Cure by James Dashner. Genre - Dystopian, Mystery, Suspense. Series - 3rd book in the Maze Runner series. Rating - PG-13 for violence and death. Synopsis - Thomas is fed-up with WICKED, they have told so many lies and caused him to lose many friends. They have even told Thomas that his best friend TheDeath Cure Summary. Thomas has been in solitary confinement after rescue from the Scorch Trials. After several weeks, Rat Man comes in and tells Thomas that the Trials are over now, and that WICKED has all the information they need. He takes Thomas to an auditorium, where the remaining subjects of the Trials are gathered. Trustme Death Cure doesn't disappoint when it comes to surprises! I can't think of a way to summarize the story without revealing major plot points, so I am going to suffice it to say that when the story starts, the gang is under WICKED's control, at some point they escape to Denver, and then return to the WICKED headquarters. . It’s following in the footsteps of its predecessor. Have you been paying attention, gladers?Today we’re looking at The Death Cure’ movie vs. the book. Like its predecessor, The Death Cure’ movie is very different from the source material. And yet while we counted more changes in this movie than we did in The Scorch Trials’, the very core of the book’s story is present. Still, it’s hard to ignore some of these differences! We counted 24 differences between the book and movie — how about you? You might also be interested in… 22 BOOK TO MOVIE CHANGES IN THE SCORCH TRIALS’ MOVIE 12 BOOK TO MOVIE CHANGES IN MOCKINGJAY, PART 2’ MOVIE SPOILERS 26 BOOK TO MOVIE CHANGES IN THE ALLEGIANT’ MOVIE Here are all the Death Cure movie differences! BOOK AND MOVIE SPOILERS BELOW! 1. That insane train opening. In the Book It’s not in the book at all. The book opens with Thomas as a prisoner of WICKED. He’s in solitary confinement for nearly a month before being reunited with the other the Movie Thomas and his friends are on a mission to rescue Minho who is en route to the WCKD headquarters. They ultimately manage to steal away an entire boxcar of children from WCKD but fail to rescue Minho. 2. Basically everything Minho. In the Book Minho is with Thomas and his friends from the beginning. He was never taken by WICKED like he is at the end of The Scorch Trials’ movie. In the Movie Rescuing Minho from WCKD is the story’s major plot point. Their infiltration into the city — and the purpose of breaking into WCKD — is to save Minho, who is being experimented on by WCKD doctors. 3. The memory surgery is absent. In the Book At the beginning of the book, Janson tells the gladers that they’ll be getting their memories back. Thomas, Newt and Minho are suspicious of the offer and at first refuse. They’re eventually forced to comply. When Thomas is being led into the memory surgery, Brenda appears and reveals that she had been working for WICKED but was plotting against them. She and Jorge break Thomas, Newt and Minho out before they receive the the Movie This entire plot point is absent from the movie. 4. Janson doesn’t reveal who is and isn’t immune. In the Book Janson reveals from the beginning who is and isn’t immune. It’s here where Thomas learns that Newt isn’t immune to the Flare. Janson goes on to explain that WICKED placed individuals who weren’t immune in the Glade as control variables for their experiment. In the Movie This scene never takes place. However, Newt does realize that he isn’t immune about mid-way through the film — when he has the Flare. He shares his suspicion with Thomas that he must have been placed in the Glade as a control variable. 5. The Right Arm is around from the very beginning. In the Book The Right Arm is introduced almost midway through the story when they’re revealed to be kidnapping people immune to the Flare. It’s revealed that their actual plan is to use their kidnapped immunes as a way to sneak into the WICKED headquarters and ultimately bring the organization down. In the Movie The Right Arm is introduced in The Scorch Trials’ movie and plays a major role in the final fight scene with WCKD. Thus, they’re present at the very beginning of The Death Cure’ movie. In fact, Vince helps Thomas in his attempt to rescue Minho from the train. It’s also important to note that the Right Arm intends to sail a ship away to a safe place in the movie. The entire story of capturing immunes is absent from the Mad Scientist Teresa. In the Book Teresa’s loyalty to WICKED is a hot point in the book — there’s no doubt about that. But in the beginning of The Death Cure, Thomas witnesses her escaping WICKED with a group of gladers. She and the other gladers make their way to Denver where they’re eventually captured by the Right Arm and later reunited with Thomas and his friends. In the Movie Teresa is mad scientist all the way! She’s actively using Minho to create a cure for the Flare. Her storyline from the book is thrown out the window. 7. Thomas, Newt and Frypan’s mission to rescue Minho alone. In the Book As explained above, Thomas and his friends escape WICKED with the help of Brenda and Jorge. From there, they head to Denver. In the Movie Thomas decides he’s going to go on a solo mission to rescue Minho. Newt and Frypan find out about Thomas leaving and decide to go with him. They soon get trapped by some cranks and are then rescued by Brenda and The cranks in the tunnel scene. In the Book There is a moment in the book where Thomas and his friends are attacked by a group of cranks while driving in a van with Lawrence on their way to meet the Right Arm. But this scene takes place much later in the book when they’re in Denver. In the Movie The scene where they’re being attacked in their car takes place in the tunnel at the beginning of the movie instead. Lawrence isn’t present at this point in the film. 9. “The city” is the only city left. In the Book Readers are led to believe that there are a number of cities still standing. The city that Thomas and his friends travel to is specifically identified as Denver, Colorado. In the Movie It’s said that there are next to no cities left. The city that Thomas travels to is never referred to by name. 10. There’s no Crank Palace. In the Book There’s an area where cranks have been quarantined in Denver. Newt is eventually taken here and Thomas and his friends go to find him. They fail to convince Newt to come with them and he’s left at the Crank Palace. In the Movie Crank Palace isn’t in the movie. Newt never leaves the core group. 11. Hans isn’t in the movie. In the Book One of the major reasons Thomas and his friends go to Denver is to meet up with a man named Hans. Hans used to work for WICKED and can take the tracking chips out of the gladers. He eventually does this, though after WICKED starts mind controlling Thomas who attacks everyone during the surgery. In the Movie Hans isn’t in the movie and the primary motivation for going to the city is to rescue Minho. Later on in the film, Teresa is the one to extract the tracking chips from Thomas and his friends. The mind control element is absent. 12. Gally’s not really working for the Right Arm. In the Book When arriving in Denver, Thomas receives a note stating that Gally would like to meet him. When they finally meet, it’s revealed that Gally is working with the Right Arm. In the Movie A group of masked men captures Thomas and his friends when they arrive outside the city. Gally is revealed to be one of these men. It’s also learned that he’s working with a rebel group of cranks rather than the Right Arm. 13. Lawrence has a heightened role in the movie. In the Book Lawrence takes Thomas to the Right Arm where he meets Vince. He later drops Thomas off at the WICKED headquarters as part of a plan to take them down. In the Movie Lawrence appears as the Voldemort-esque leader of a crank army. He eventually blows up the wall protecting the city, killing himself but allowing the cranks from the outside world to overcome the city and WCKD. 14. The break into WCKD headquarters is totally different. In the Book Thomas teams up with the Right Arm to break into WICKED headquarters. The plan is for Thomas to sneak a device into the headquarters that will disable everyone’s weapons, giving the Right Arm a fair advantage against the WICKED guards. The Right Arm storms the headquarters just as Thomas is about to be operated on by Janson and his the Movie Thomas and his friends kidnap Teresa as she’s going home for the night… to her apartment?. They eventually break into the headquarters disguised as guards, using Teresa’s thumbprint as a key to get into high-security areas of the building. They rescue Minho and the children WCKD has captured. 15. That insane bus scene. In the Book It’s not in the book. In the Movie Holy shank! Brenda drives a bus of rescued children as part of a high-speed chase through the city. Just when she appears caught, Frypan pulls the bus into the air with a crane. It’s crazy. 16. Newt’s death is different. In the Book Thomas eventually spots Newt on the highway this is sometime after having left him at the Crank Palace. They’re on their way to WICKED headquarters when they spot him. Newt’s gone full crank at this point but Thomas tries to convince him to go with them. Newt’s not having it and attacks Thomas, begging for death. Thomas finally agrees to do so. He shoots Newt in the head. In the Movie The Flare finally overcomes Newt as they escape from WCKD headquarters. Like in the book, Newt starts attacking Thomas. Meanwhile, Minho and Brenda are racing to get medication to Newt with the hopes of delaying the Flare’s effects. While fighting with Thomas, Newt takes out a knife and accidentally stabs himself during their scuffle. This happens right as Brenda arrives with the Everything Chancellor Page. In the Book Paige never appears in the books. That doesn’t mean she isn’t absent, however. She’s definitely present within the Maze Runner world. In fact she communicates with Thomas in The Death Cure via a note. This happens after he’s infiltrated WICKED headquarters and avoided Janson’s operation to extract his brain. Paige’s note says that she stopped the operation apparently they didn’t actually need his brain or something and instructs Thomas to save the kidnapped immunes. In the Movie Paige is very present throughout the film. She’s working with Janson and Teresa to find a cure at the headquarters. Thomas eventually meets with her, convinced that he is the key to the cure they’ve been looking for. But before he can go with her, Janson kills her and takes Thomas for himself. 18. They never go back to the Maze. In the Book Paige’s note to Thomas instructs him to go back to the Maze/Glade from Book 1. The kidnapped immunes are being held there and Thomas has an opportunity to lead them to a safe place where they’ll be free from violence forever. They need to get to a portal/transporter — “Flat Trans” — to get to the safe place. On their way, the Right Arm begins destroying the Movie It’s not in the movie. However, we do see a flashback to the Maze from Minho while Teresa and her evil doctor friends are experimenting on him. 19. Where did all the grievers go? In the Book A pack of grievers comes to life and attacks Thomas and the immunes as they try to escape the Maze. Thomas fights off the grievers but some of the immunes are killed during the attack. In the Movie Also not in the movie. But again, we see a griever in one of Minho’s forced nightmares. 20. Janson is killed by cranks. In the Book Just as Thomas and the immunes are about to escape through the Flat Trans, Janson and his cronies show up. Janson tries to stop Thomas, but Thomas ultimately kills Janson by strangling him to death. In the Movie Janson chases Thomas and Teresa into a room where cranks are being held and experimented on. This allows Thomas to shatter one of the glass doors protecting them from the cranks. The cranks are released and immediately attack and kill Janson. 21. Teresa’s death is different too. In the Book Teresa saves Thomas’s life, pushing him out of the way from falling debris. The debris crushes her instead. Thomas goes on to escape through the Flat Trans. In the Movie THOMAS AND TERESA KISS for reals this time. They’re on the roof of the WCKD headquarters and Jorge flies the berg toward them. Teresa helps Thomas jump into the Berg, but the building collapses before she can be Nope to the Brenda kiss. In the Book After finally arriving in paradise, the story ends with Thomas and Brenda kissing. It’s implied that Brenda is keeping something from Thomas. In the Movie They make it to paradise — not through the flat trans — but the giant ship seen in the beginning of the movie. And Brenda and Thomas don’t kiss. Instead, they carve the names of the loved ones they lost into a stone. 23. Newt’s note is now a letter. In the Book Newt hands Thomas a note at the beginning of the book, shortly after learning he’s not immune to the Flare. He tells Thomas to read the note when the time is right. Thomas does so shortly after leaving Newt at the Crank Palace. Newt has asked Thomas to kill him in the note. In the Movie Newt gives Thomas a small capsule. Thomas opens the capsule at the end of the film and finds a two-page letter from Newt. It’s a lot nicer than the note Newt wrote him in the book. The letter essentially praises Thomas for being the good friend and leader he is and reflects on what they’ve been through, the people they’ve met and the things they’ve overcome since Thomas arrived in the Maze. 24. WCKD is not good. In the Book An epilogue written by Chancellor Paige reveals the final twist. Brenda and Jorge had been planted by WICKED after Paige realized that the attempt to find a cure wouldn’t succeed. Brenda and Jorge’s mission was to lead the remaining immunes to a safe and secure place — a place away from the cranks. This would allow the immunes to start civilzation anew while the rest of the world dies off. Paige also reveals that the government created the Flare virus as a method of population control. They weren’t able to control the virus, so WICKED stepped in with the goal of preserving the human race. With Brenda and Jorge leading the immunes to the safe paradise, they essentially succeed in their mission. This proves Paige’s point WICKED is good. In the Movie It’s not in the movie. They make it to the safe paradise, but Paige’s memo proving that WCKD is good does not appear in the film. Did you like these changes? Did you notice any changes that we missed? Discuss the movie in the comments! Editor's Note James Dashner, the author of the Maze Runner series, was dropped by his agent and publisher because of allegations of sexual misconduct made by several anonymous individuals. We feel it's important for our readers to be aware of these allegations. For more information on how Bookstacked covers alleged abusers in the publishing industry, please click here. The past few years have been a rather dystopian era for dystopian YA film adaptations. After “The Hunger Games” became a genuine phenomenon, studios went on a spending spree, scouring increasingly indistinguishable tales of chosen ones and oppressive government regimes for potential franchises, with decidedly mixed results. Ever since Jennifer Lawrence called time on Katniss, “Divergent” has fizzled out rather ignominiously; “Ender’s Game” and “The 5th Wave” proved to be nonstarters; and after a delayed production that saw series lead Dylan O’Brien injured in an on-set accident, “Maze Runner The Death Cure,” the third and final entry in Fox’s adaptations of James Dashner’s books, finally arrives this month with relatively little fanfare. Somewhat surprisingly, however, “Maze Runner’s” core team – including original series director Wes Ball – have rallied to give this once middling saga a proper sending-off. Downplaying some of the property’s sillier elements when not jettisoning them entirely, and streamlining the narrative into a rousing and at times even emotional action film, “Death Cure” is the most successful entry in the franchise by far. It may be too late to turn the cultural tide on the genre, but it comes as a relief to see at least one series manage to stick the landing. Perhaps mindful that the film is unlikely to attract many newcomers at this point, “Death Cure” devotes almost no time to catching audiences up on the events of 2014’s “The Maze Runner” and 2015’s “Maze Runner The Scorch Trials.” For those with short memories, our hero Thomas O’Brien is still hard at work fighting an evil, quasi-governmental agency known as WCKD, which imprisoned him and a slew of comparably good-looking youngsters in a monster-filled labyrinth called “The Glade” in the first film, then pursued them across a harsh desert wasteland in the second. They did this as part of a needlessly complicated strategy to fight a massive global pandemic known as “The Flare,” which turns the infected into mindless zombie-like creatures called cranks. The poor kids imprisoned in the maze they call themselves “Gladers” are immune to the Flare virus’ effects, and WCKD’s head pair of sinister scientists Aidan Gillen, Patricia Clarkson subject them to various nefarious procedures to try to extract a cure from their blood. This underlying concept, as revealed at the end of the first film and elaborated upon endlessly in the second, is all exceedingly daft – and the more the series’ mythology expands, the daffier it tends to get. But it’s here that “Death Cure” makes its most surprising choice it barely concerns itself with the particulars of the whole conspiracy at all. Instead, what we get is essentially an old-school jailbreak movie, and director Ball wastes zero time flexing his action chops, kicking off the film with a solidly executed train robbery sequence. The robbers in question are Thomas and his trusty Glader buddies Newt Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Frypan Dexter Darden, as well sardonic resistance fighters Brenda Rosa Salazar and Jorge Giancarlo Esposito. Their target is a train full of young prisoners headed to a WCKD facility, among them the group’s captured comrade Minho Ki Hong Lee. They manage to rescue a car full of kids successfully, but Minho is not among them – he’s been taken to WCKD headquarters in this wasteland’s mythical last bastion of civilization, the appropriately named Last City. The gang all pledge to rescue their friend or die trying. The Last City, which they reach after some rote zombie-fighting, essentially resembles a landlocked Hong Kong, its gleaming skyscrapers surrounded by massive, heavily fortified walls that keep the filthy rabble living in shantytowns below from entering. “The walls are new – I guess that’s WCKD’s answer to everything,” Esposito’s Jorge says, in one of several moments that seem to draw fairly explicit parallels to the Trump administration. Inside, Minho is suffering through WCKD’s various laboratory tortures, all carried out by a onetime Glader and previous Thomas love interest-turned-traitor, Teresa Kaya Scodelario. Struggling to find a way inside, Thomas and company fall in with a mysterious, gruesomely scarred resistance figure Walton Goggins, as well as an unexpected returning character from the first film. Once they finally breach the city walls, the film comes to life. While “Death Cure’s” sweeping aerial shots still rely on obvious computer graphics, the street-level city scenes are among the series’ most fully realized and effectively designed, from the propaganda videos broadcasting on electric billboards to the half-glimpsed arrests of the suspected infected on teeming street corners. While not as visually resplendent as “The Hunger Games’” Capitol, the Last City is a believable rendering of a post-apocalyptic metropolis, and the care that went into sketching the setting pays off when the city devolves into an all-out warzone in the film’s final act. “Death Cure” can certainly fall victim to overkill – the climax drags out several scenes longer than it has to; the thunderous sound design grows deadening with one explosion after another – and there are more than a few key plot turns that seem to have lost some important context in the transition to the screen. But damned if Ball doesn’t pull off some impressive firefights and last-minute escapes once the action gets humming. “The Maze Runner” was Ball’s first film, and his ability to craft comprehensible setpieces has steadily improved throughout the trilogy. So too have the performances. Salazar once again proves herself to be an action hero in the making, given much more to do here than in “The Scorch Trials,” while Gillen hones his previously ridiculous antagonist into a properly hissable villain. O’Brien – who, to be fair, was rarely asked to do more than look alternately determined and terrified as he dodged countless terrors in the previous films – has noticeably matured as an actor here, and he sells the film’s emotional beats with a good deal of charisma. Brodie-Sangster has his moments, and Scodelario manages to get across a character of more complicated motivations than one usually sees in films of this ilk. Ironically, this cast has finally started to gel into a group you wouldn’t mind spending time with, just as they’re preparing to say goodbye. Well, better late than never. Maze Runner The Death Cure Review Director Wes Ball Writers Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers, and Nowlin Rating Pg-13 Release Date January 26, 2018 [MAJOR SPOILERS] What’s this? Maze Runner The Death Cure is apparently the last cinematic movie of a trilogy based on the novels of the same name. The journey began in The Maze Runner, continued with Maze Runner The Scorch Trials, and ends with The Death Cure. Unfortunately, The Death Cure leaves the series falling awfully flat, compared to feelings of intrigue and exuberance left after the first film. The film companies who want to invest in trilogies should just call Matt Reeves. The recent Planet of the Apes trilogy that just wrapped up may be one of the best trilogies in the last decade. But I digress, that’s neither here nor there. We are talking about this unfortunate collapse. So it’s just another bad end to a trilogy? Exactly. This movie plays out so much like a video game it is almost unbearable at times. Almost to the point where I can bring an Xbox controller to the movie theatre and pretend to play along with the actions. I could put my controller down for the intimate cut-scenes and then correctly playing through the Quick Time Events. RIP Spider-Man 3 The Game. The number of cliches in this movie are staggering. “You want us to go in the dark tunnel?” Boss fights in crumbling buildings, mind experimentation, kiss scenes in fiery collapses, fights against friends, the dead coming back to life, a big action set-piece to open the movie, the “last civilization” behind giant walls. If you take a shot for every scene/theme you have seen before in another movie, you will get absolutely inebriated before the halfway point of this 113 minute monster of a film. What’s The Death Cure about? Following the events of the last two films, Thomas, Newt, and I believe Frypan yes, that’s a character’s name are still immune to the virus. The movie begins with a train set piece that was ripped right out of Sam Mendes’ James Bond movie Skyfall, with the three listed above trying to steal a train that is carrying immune children in hopes of finding their kidnapped friend Minho. In the old “switchers” moment, they grab the wrong train, and decide to head to WCKD’s headquarters, the last city on Earth. Along the way they head through dark tunnels filled with cranks and barely escape. Just like possibly every zombie movie ever made. The group makes it to the WCKD city and run into a past foe who was thought to be dead, who is now their friend. Cue obvious surprise music. Now they make a deal with Gally’s boss to get inside of the city. They realize that they can use Teresa who betrayed them in The Scorch Trials to get inside of the main building to save Minho. What happens after that? What follows is a nearly 90-minute set-piece to set-up for an action-adventure ending. Thomas, Newt, and Gally work with Teresa to release the rest of the immune children WCKD is holding, find Minho, only to realize that Thomas’ blood is the only thing that can cure the crank virus. Yeah I know, even you saw that coming and you probably haven’t seen the movie yet. Outside of the walls, Gally’s leader uses the information supplied by Thomas and his friends to “storm the castle of the rich,” and effectively lead a revolution against WCKD. The ending scene of the revolution rushing in the walls is the best storyline in the movie. Not much time is spent on it. As Thomas and his friends try to escape, one of his friends reveals he’s been bitten shocker and must fend off the virus before he attacks Thomas, to no avail. Thomas must mercy-kill one of his closest friends. What about Teresa? Finally, Teresa contacts Thomas to let him know that his blood is the cure and he heads back to try to synthesize a cure. Cue double cross plot device as Janson is there to capture Thomas and reveals that the virus is turning him into a crank. He needs Thomas’ blood. The revolution starts destroying buildings and WCKD’s main building crumbles around them as Thomas fights to get loose and has a boss fight with Janson in the building. The movie ends with Janson dying with the, “You missed your shot kid. No I didn’t.” line and Teresa and Thomas passionately kiss on top of the building with fire burning around them and a hovercraft trying to transport them out. Not even joking. Teresa dies saving Thomas, leaving Thomas and the rest of the “safe haven” community to reflect on the friends they’ve lost. That’s it. Who’s in Maze Runner The Death Cure? Dylan O’ Brien returns as Thomas. Actually most if not all of the cast from the first two movies return for this last one. Which is a good sign. They believed in this trilogy and stuck through it to the end. I’m happy for them. It’s always a good sign whenever Giancarlo Esposito is apart of something. I just wished he had more screen time. But this trilogy is about the teenagers, and the one thing going for this trilogy is the acting of Dylan, Kayla, Dexter, and Ki Hong Lee as the main cast. Other than that, there are no outstanding actors or actresses that many would know. Recommendation? If you have movie pass, or a movie gift card, use it on this movie. This movie’s length works against it and the popcorn you buy will be gone before the good action begins. Honestly, this is a movie you wait for on DVD and add it to your collection to show off the latest 4K HDR Hi-Def, surround sound, etc. type of theatre set up in your home. The action set pieces at the end of this movie, while formulaic, are very fun to watch and view. The special effects are solid and this feels like the end of a trilogy, with a lot of action crammed into the end of the movie. Honestly, that’s the best part, because the story is so bland and formulaic that it forces to the viewer to groan audibly a couple times. This is a movie night movie with your friends at best. Enjoyed reading this review? Then you will probably like listening to us too, so check out our podcast below. [podbean playlist=”http%3A%2F% type=”multi” height=”315″ kdsowie31j4k1jlf913=”65c6d1509405e990354a2b159ed150d1bf07c702″ size=”315″ share=”1″ fonts=”Helvetica” auto=”0″ download=”1″ rtl=”0″ skin=”9″] Home Movies Movie Reviews Maze Runner The Death Cure Review - The Trilogy Ends With a Shrug Maze Runner The Death Cure provides a satisfactory concluding chapter to the YA dystopian trilogy, and little else beyond action spectacle. Maze Runner The Death Cure provides a satisfactory concluding chapter to the YA dystopian trilogy, and little else beyond action spectacle. When The Maze Runner first arrived in theaters in 2014, it was amid the heyday of sci-fi dystopian action films based on young adult novels. The Hunger Games had found a great deal of success with its second installment, The Hunger Games Catching Fire, and Divergent had just launched a film franchise that was expected to be the next hit. However, as The Hunger Games film series ran its course, and Divergent tanked before it could receive a final installment, The Maze Runner was originally set to debut its trilogy capper amid a dying - and incredibly narrow - genre of movies. However, as a result of an on set injury for the film's biggest star, the third and final chapter was delayed, which didn't help the movie. Maze Runner The Death Cure provides a satisfactory concluding chapter to the YA dystopian trilogy, and little else beyond action spectacle. The Death Cure picks up six months after the conclusion of Maze Runner The Scorch Trials, which left Thomas Dylan O'Brien, Newt Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and their friend from the Glade, Frypan Dexter Darden, with a group who is trying to escape the reach of WCKD by fleeing to an island paradise. While Thomas and his friends are able to free some teenagers from a WCKD transport, the one they were looking for - their fellow Glader Minho Ki Hong Lee - is still in the hands of their enemy. Splintering off from the main group led by Vince Barry Pepper, Thomas, Newt, Frypan and their allies Jorge Giancarlo Esposito and Brenda Rosa Salazar head to the Last City in order to save Minho. Once they arrive at the city, they find that WCKD has built walls to keep out those infected with the Flare virus. While wading through on the outskirts of the city filled with Cranks who haven't descended into the rage-filled madness of the virus, Thomas and his allies come across an old friend - of sorts. They're taken to Lawrence Walton Goggins, who helps Thomas sneak into the city so he and his friends can set about rescuing Minho. However, part of their plan hinges on trusting someone who betrayed the group in The Scorch Trials Teresa Kaya Scodelario. She's been working with WCKD's Ava Page Patricia Clarkson and Janson Aidan Gillen to find a cure that will save humanity from extinction via the Flare virus. Facing innumerable obstacles, it's up to Thomas and his allies to save their friends and finally escape from WCKD once and for all. The Death Cure arriving roughly two and a half years after the previous installment in The Maze Runner series does the film no favors. To their credit, director Wes Ball and screenwriter Nowlin - having worked on the entire franchise together - are able to deliver a trilogy capper that is thematically and tonally in line with the overall series. The pacing and momentum of the film also work to its benefit. The Death Cure jumps right into the action, and keeps up a breakneck pace of major plot beats interspersed with plenty of action spectacle. It's a recipe that provides an entertaining experience, but the dramatic moments depend perhaps too much on character and plot from previous films, so that they lose a great deal of punch if viewers haven't seen The Maze Runner or The Scorch Trials in some time - or at all. The story of The Death Cure, while relatively simple on paper since it's essentially a rescue mission, is overcomplicated by a number of other plot threads - most of which don't payoff. There is a half-baked uprising against WCKD that is only tangentially related to the main characters and serves little purpose other than to paint an explosive background to what's meant to be the true emotional stakes of the movie Thomas saving his friends. However, The Death Cure doesn't really dive deeper into the conflict between Thomas and WCKD. Rather, it relies heavily on context set up in previous films and little or poor worldbuilding. The motivations of Ava Paige and Janson aren't even remotely interrogated by the film or the characters - they're simply evil for survival's sake. Exploring the theme of what lengths humans will go to in order to survive, and what that means for their humanity, is common among the dystopian sci-fi genre. Unfortunately, The Death Cure only provides a surface-level examination of this theme among its main characters. Thomas epitomizes humanity in his need to save everyone from WCKD, even when it puts him in immediate danger. Meanwhile, Janson and Ava are on the opposite end of the spectrum, rationalizing that the ends justify the means, so long as the end is their survival. Teresa receives the most depth of those on the "evil" side of the narrative, and while the film attempts a redemption arc, it pays off in an exceptionally cliche way. Certainly, there may have been a thoughtful examination of humanity in The Death Cure, but it's bogged down by an overcomplicated futuristic world - one that's never clearly laid out, even after three movies - and sacrificed for action spectacle. For their parts, the young cast of The Death Cure bring as much heart to the film as is possible. O'Brien is charismatic enough as the hero-with-a-heart-of-gold, but a little flat - though that's largely because Thomas isn't given much emotional range beyond concern for his friends and anger at those who have wronged him. Brodie-Sangster gets a more dynamic arc in The Death Cure and shines brighter. Scodelario, Salazar and Lee round out the young cast well enough, getting their moments to shine. Clarkson and Esposito turn out serviceable performances as their characters, while Gillen delivers an unsurprising villain. But The Death Cure actor who is done the biggest disservice by sharing the screen with so many others is Goggins, who gives a brief but truly memorable performance as Lawrence. All told, The Death Cure provides a satisfying conclusion to The Maze Runner trilogy that will likely appease fans of the film franchise, and the book series written by James Dashner who appears with a brief cameo early on in the movie. There is a great deal of spectacle, though, that makes The Death Cure an enjoyable enough experience for fans or those with low expectations - but perhaps a bit too much handheld camerawork in certain sequences to see this film in 3D or IMAX. However, as The Death Cure effectively concludes the last film franchise that was born of the popularity of The Hunger Games, it doesn't provide any real incentive to revive the narrow genre of dystopian YA-based sci-fi that has a future as bleak as the apocalyptic landscapes they depict. Trailer Maze Runner The Death Cure is now playing in theaters nationwide. It runs 141 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, and some thematic elements. Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments! Key Release Dates

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