Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

After getting out of the Maze, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) and their friends fall into the hands of a military group, the leader of which Jenson (Aidan Gillen) explains to them that he is rescuing teenagers from the Labyrinths and transporting them to a safe place where the military medical organization VICE, which manages the Labyrinths, cannot reach them. The heroes also learn that the earth has been scorched by solar flares, and that most of humanity is infected with a virus that turns people into zombies. The only hope for uninfected people is the immune children from the Labyrinths. At first, the boys believe Jenson's words, but Thomas soon discovers that they are being deceived and that they need to escape from the complex where they are being held. Once outside, the heroes find themselves in the desert, which used to be called California. They are heading for the mountains, where, as the guys believe, the rebel army is hiding, opposing VICE.

What did James Dashner smoke when he wrote the sequel to "The Maze Runner"? This is usually a rhetorical and ironic question. But in this case, we are really interested in what drugs the American writer got hooked on in the joy of the commercial success of the first novel from the "labyrinth" cycle. Because it is hardly possible to write such an insane book as "Trial by Fire" without entering the narcotic astral. Unless Dashner gets "sausage" without chemical help the way others do – only under heroin.

Knowing what awaits the heroes of last year's hit film adaptation of "The Maze Runner" in the sequel to their adventures, we waited with great interest to see how director Wes Ball and his team would get out of the situation. Will they follow the author's insanity or try to turn "Trial by Fire" into at least a relatively logical post-apocalyptic blockbuster? Now, having looked at the picture, we are happy to inform you that Ball has taken the second path. His screenwriter Thomas Naulin has significantly reworked "The Ordeal", and in the cinema it looks like an exciting teenage adventure, and not like the ravings of a madman.

Another thing is that Naulin showed himself to be a professional, but not a genius. His "Trial" is a great movie for the "Guess the Reference" game, because quotes are in it at every turn. "Resident Evil", "Divergent"/"Insurgent", "Mad Max", "The Walking Dead"… And so on and so forth. All the colors of the post-apocalypse, except perhaps "The Water World" and "Through the Snow", because the land of the "Maze Runner" is fried and dehydrated (once the port of San Francisco stands in the middle of the desert). To the left are zombies, to the right are bandits nesting in the ruins of civilization, in front are mysterious rebels, behind is a ruthless military organization, around is the desert, mountains and ruins of a megalopolis (from toppled skyscrapers to a sewer populated by monsters), and in the center is a handful of teenagers, in whose blood floats a medicine for people who survived a global catastrophe. But the withdrawal of this medicine takes place in such a way that the guys are not eager to undergo the procedure. And so Thomas and his friends scour the desert in search of those who will protect them from vice