{"id":100961,"date":"2018-01-17T15:30:43","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T15:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=100961"},"modified":"2018-01-17T15:30:43","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T15:30:43","slug":"maze-runner-the-death-cure-film-review-does-the-ya-franchise-go-out-with-a-wckd-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/maze-runner-the-death-cure-film-review-does-the-ya-franchise-go-out-with-a-wckd-bang\/","title":{"rendered":"Maze Runner: The Death Cure film review: does the YA franchise go out with a WCKD bang?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>The Death Cure<\/em><\/strong>, the final adaptation of James Dashner\u2019s dystopian <strong><em>Maze Runner<\/em> <\/strong>novels, starts with a combination train robbery\/prison break sequence that recalls not one, but <em>two<\/em> set-pieces from the first act of <strong><em>Fast &amp; Furious 5<\/em> <\/strong>\u2013 or <strong><em>Fast Five<\/em><\/strong> as it\u2019s known outside the UK. The success of that formula-shifting entry in the <strong><em>Fast <\/em><\/strong>series is credited with rejuvenating a franchise that had gone stale, bringing aboard lots of new fans who were entertained by the change-up in execution.<\/p>\n<p>Fittingly, considering the possible homage in the opening action scene, <strong><em>The Death Cure<\/em><\/strong> is akin to <strong><em>Fast Five<\/em><\/strong> in that it\u2019s a noticeable upgrade when compared to prior series instalments.<\/p>\n<p>A key factor on the action front is the move away from handheld camerawork that did a disservice to so many of the beats in the first two films. Returning director Wes Ball and cinematographer Gyula Pados subsequently get a lot more vibrancy from the film\u2019s apocalyptic clashes.<\/p>\n<p>On other fronts, <strong><em>The Death Cure<\/em><\/strong> is paced more effectively than the slog that was <strong><em>The Scorch Trials<\/em><\/strong>, despite being 11 minutes longer; there are strong horror moments; there\u2019s much more of Rosa Salazar as Brenda, whose plentiful charisma makes one wish she was the lead and not Dylan O\u2019Brien; and the likes of Giancarlo Esposito and Walton Goggins are clearly having fun in their supporting turns, the latter as the Two-Face-resembling leader of an infected rebel group.<\/p>\n<p>Will <strong><em>The Death Cure<\/em><\/strong> bring in any new converts, though? It\u2019s unlikely, not least because of the trilogy-capper factor. Additionally, while the exciting action sequences and some of the stars sustain the whole piece, this universe\u2019s internal logic remains clumsy. This is less of a problem if your film\u2019s about bonkers car heists, but when your story\u2019s driven by ethical issues concerning the sacrifice of a few to save humanity, it\u2019s a niggling issue when a plot turn reveals the wicked schemes of the WCKD group could have easily been avoided through simpler means and basic competence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas, Brenda, Newt and the gang face their final trial in the Maze Runner trilogy&#8217;s finale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":100962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[5874],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/restrictions-apply-df-09027-r.-1-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}