![]() ![]() Only Giancarlo Esposito seems to take the piece seriously, owning every scene and yet making Rosa Salazar shine in their shared scenes, something she doesn’t do when she’s on screen on her own. Barry Pepper is an economy brand Woody Harrelson scruffy mentor type, who seems to be in charge, but not really. Aidan Gillan doesn’t even seem to be trying, replacing menace with a soundboard of villainous lears and sneers and comments about picking who gets to survive. The limitations of the material even affects some of the older actors. They simply don’t have the chops to really bring any interest to a bunch of very flat characters who are supposed to be cool but really are just surrounded by mediocre villains with the WRST excuse for an organisation name imaginable. ![]() On top of that, it’s extra difficult to empathise with a lot of the main characters due to the youth and inexperience of the main cast. What little is left of mankind can perishes in fire and plague, because at least the Immunes will be okay. The named characters plan to escape to set up their own Safe Haven and live on a beach with bonfires and all the dead characters' names carved into a big memorial rock. The Death Cure comes across as an odd kind of Libertarianism escapism the people in the big city are all bad because they’re exploiting the Immmunes, even if it’s to try save the last bastion of civilisation. Old grievances must be paid off, dead named characters must be avenged and stock villains defeated in a convoluted setup. Of course, does Thomas, knowing his blood could lead to a cure for all mankind, opt to work to save mankind as whole? Nope. Of note is the switch from Minho being one of the best candidates for providing a cure, to suddenly Thomas becoming a walking panacea, making the protagonist the most important human being alive. It comes across as trying to ape the success of the Hunger Games with zombies bolted on. ![]() The second major weakness of The Death Cure is that it ticks every Young Adult trope box, and not in a good way. It’s hard to tell the new characters from the old because it relies on the audience to know the difference. The problem is the constant feed of characters you are supposed to recognise and occasionally be surprised at their reappearance. Sure, we gather Minho is important to Thomas, and that the faceless goons they’re up against are up to no good. It’s a bit of a conceit of geek movies to assume you know the larger backstory of an ongoing series, but the Death Cure does nothing to give a novice to the series any bearing. The problem is that the series is not standalone. Herein lies the problem the cold open a Mad Max style heist is excellent, and as a standalone set-piece, establishes the characters as capable of outmaneuvering WCKD’s faceless stormtroopers. Thomas and his friends must rescue Minho and face off against WCKD's security overlord Janson (Gillan). Lawrence, and his underling Gally (Will Poulter), a former ally of Thomas, offer Thomas a means to infiltrate the city and rescue Minho. Despite appearances of civilization, the Last City has fortified, in a bid to buy time but at the same time alienating them from those outside, including the infected Lawrence (Walton Goggins). In the Last City, Teresa (Scodelario), Thomas’ ex girlfriend and a former Maze Runner who has defected to WCKD, tries to find a cure, including using virtual reality torture on Minho to extract a serum to delay the effects of the plague. All information indicates he has been taken to The Last City, a WCKD base that might prove to be the last holdout of human civilisation. ![]() However, despite a well planned and stylish train robbery, in which they rescue half of the Immune prisoners, Minho is not among them. The organisation WCKD have rounded up the few remaining Immunes, unaffected by the deadly virus that turns the infected into the feral Cranks and has almost eliminated humanity. Thomas (O’Brien), Newt (Brodie-Sangster), Jorge (Esposito), Vince (Barry Pepper) and Brenda (Salazar) are trying to rescue their friend and former lead Maze Runner Minho (Ki Hong Lee) from an armoured train. Opening with sprawling CGI scenery, we are treated to a post apocalyptic vista that means to set the tone of the film. It stars Dylan O'Brien ( Deepwater Horizon, Teen Wolf), Kaya Scodelario ( Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Thomas Brodie-Sangster ( Game of Thrones), Rosa Salazar ( Alita: Battle Angel), Giancarlo Esposito ( Breaking Bad), and Aidan Gillen ( Game of Thrones). Maze Runner: The Death Cure is the third part of the Maze Runner series, based on the Young Adult novels by James Dashner. ![]()
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