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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 27 January 2018
Review: Forward motion of

'Maze Runner' stalls in 3rd entry

By JAKE COYLE zombies. In "Maze Runner," Death Cure," you've got
AP Film Writer they escaped the enor- to turn in a cut under two
NEW YORK (AP) — Movie- mous concrete maze they hours.
goers who come late to were plopped into with Think too much about
the "Maze Runner" fran- their memories erased. the plot and it will surely
chise, which now numbers By "Scorch Trials," they re- spoil the fun of "The Death
three, will doubtless have alized the institution that Cure." WCKD may be an
one very reasonable ques- sheltered them (WCKD, imperfect organization,
tion: Where, pray tell, are under the command of but then again, the fate of
This image released by Twentieth Century Fox shows, from left, all the mazes I was prom- an icy scientist played by the human race hangs in
Katherine McNamara, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jacob Lofland, ised? Patricia Clarkson and a se- the balance.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dylan O'Brien, Rosa Salazar and Dex- Alas, the maze of "Maze vere commander played WCKD's chief motivation is
ter Darden in a scene from "Maze Runner: The Death Cure."
Associated Press Runner" — referred to as by Aidan Gillen) wasn't to to study the blood of the
"the Glade" by the few doz- be trusted. immune so that an anti-
en teenagers who were They broke out and joined dote can be discovered.
mysteriously dropped into with a band of resistance Literally millions of lives
it — has been in the rear- fighters. In "The Death would be saved if only a
view since the first 2014 in- Cure," they try to free the millennial listened.
stallment, a modestly bud- remaining lab rats, includ- But if the "Maze Runner"
geted YA adaption and a ing their pal Minho (Ki Hong films have chronicled ma-
bit of a "Hunger Games" Lee), who are housed in jor stages of young adult-
knockoff. But what the two the last remaining city, a hood, they have gradu-
sequels, first "Maze Run- walled-in cluster of sky- ated a few along the way.
ner: Scorch Trials" and now scrapers. O'Brien has shouldered the
"Maze Runner: The Death The "Maze Runner" trilogy films well, even as much
Cure," have lacked in laby- has essentially skipped from of their enjoyment derives
rinths, they have made up high school (the Glade) to from the scattered ensem-
for in running. college (WCKD) and finally ble of characters actors
Literal running but also a into the urban workplace. (Giancarlo Esposito, Will
genuinely kinetic forward Just one with, you know, Poulter, Walton Goggins).
movement. The "Maze zombies and poor health But Ball's command of
Runner" films, which have care options. the camera and his abil-
all been directed by former But these are very sincere ity to hurtle his character
visual effects supervisor movies about the fellow- through science-fiction
Wes Ball, move better than ship of friends trying to sur- realms has visibly grown
the average dystopia. So vive together and figure through the three movies.
many fantasies bog them- out just who they can trust. For too long "The Death
selves down with backstory There is a drinking game's Cure" stays in one place;
and world-explaining, but worth of moments where a it's best when on the move.
the chief pleasure of the character vows not leave And now, it's probably time
"Maze Runner" films is that their buddy behind. for Ball to move on, too.
the characters are perpet- "The Death Cure" is the "The Maze Runner: The
ually grasping their predic- biggest budgeted, most Death Cure," a 20th Centu-
ament right along with the bloated and longest run- ry Fox release, is rated PG-
audience. ning entry for the franchise. 13 by the Motion Picture
And like the previous It maintains the movies' Association of America for
chapters, "Maze Runner: quick pace before stall- "for intense sequences of
The Death Cure" picks up ing in an overlong finale. sci-fi violence and action,
right in medias res. Thom- It should be a mutually un- language, and some the-
as (Dylan O'Brien) and his derstood condition that if matic elements."
close-knit crew of escap- you're going to name your Running time: 142 minutes.
ees-turned-rebel fighters movie "Maze Runner: The Two stars out of four.q
(Thomas Brodie-Sangster,
Rosa Salazar, Barry Pep-
per) speed after a train
on a desolate plain, hop
aboard, and when secu-
rity guards for the nefari-
ous organization called
WCKD (short for World in
Catastrophe: Killzone Ex-
periment Department, and
pronounced "wicked")
start swarming, they outwit
them, and, somehow, fly
away with a train car full of
kids.
They are among the few
left on Earth immune to
a virus that turns all into