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"Thomas: No, but they weren't alive either. They had them strung up. With tubes coming out of them. They were being... they were being drained. There's something inside of us that WCKD wants. Something in our blood. So we have to get as far away from them as possible.
Newt: Okay. So, what's the plan? You do have a plan, right?
Thomas: Yeah. I don't know.
Newt: Well, we followed you out here, Thomas, and now you're saying that you have no idea where we're going or what we're doing?
Aris: Wait. Janson said something about people hiding in the mountains. Some kind of resistance or army.
Thomas: The Right Arm. The Right Arm. If they're really against WCKD, maybe they can help us.
Newt: People. In the mountains. Mountain people. That's your plan?
Thomas: It's the only chance we have.
"
— The Gladers discussing their plan of action.


Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, often named The Scorch Trials, is a dystopian science fiction film based on the 2010 novel The Scorch Trials written by author James Dashner. It is the second film in the Maze Runner Movies. The film was directed by Wes Ball from a screenplay written by T.S. Nowlin and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Filming began on October 27, 2014, and ended on January 27, 2015. It was released on September 18, 2015. The film has a runtime of 132 minutes. The movie is available for streaming on Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play Movies & TV.

Synopsis[]

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials takes place immediately after the previous instalment. Transported to a remote fortified outpost, Thomas and his fellow teenage Gladers find themselves in trouble after uncovering a diabolical plot from the mysterious and powerful organization WCKD. With help from a new ally, the Gladers stage a daring escape into the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with dangerous obstacles and crawling with the virus-infected Cranks. The Gladers only hope may be to find the Right Arm, a group of resistance fighters who can help them battle WCKD.

Plot[]

The film begins with a young boy, Thomas, taken in by Ava Paige and troops from the organization WCKD, alongside other abandoned children, after being dropped off by his mother for his own safety. Years later, shortly after being rescued from the Maze, Thomas and the remaining Gladers - Newt, Minho, Teresa, FrypanWinston, Tim and Jack are taken to a facility run by Mr. Janson. He explains that the facility is a safe haven, protecting them from WCKD, the Flare virus and the Cranks, and providing them clothes, food, and sanitation, where other survivors of multiple mazes were also present. Thomas becomes curious about their activities and manages to find out what is really happening behind the closed doors. With help from Aris Jones, the first Maze survivor to end up in the facility, it is revealed that WCKD's leader, Dr. Ava Paige, is still alive, and that Mr. Janson is working for WCKD, as they discuss about the experiments on the Immunes and that Janson has yet to find the Right Arm, a resistance group located in the mountains. The group, including Aris, but without Tim (Tim's character was cut, but he is alive, as he is later seen in the sequel) escapes the facility, as Janson orders his WCKD troops to track them down, where they find themselves in the deserted outside world - The Scorch.

After travelling for some time, the group arrive at an abandoned marketplace, where they first encounter the Cranks, humans zombified past the Gone, infected by the Flare.

Scorch stairs v1 mw

During their runaway, Winston gets infected by one of the Cranks, and Jack is killed after falling to his death by a Crank. When morning comes, they find the remains of the city in ruins and that WCKD is still searching for them. Winston's infection keeps gets worse, forcing the rest of the group to leave him alone to die by shooting himself with a gun Newt gave him, preventing his transformation. The group continues to venture the desert until one night, while sleeping, Thomas wakes to discover a civilization off in the distance. As a thunderstorm emerges, they run to an abandoned facility to take shelter. Minho gets struck by the lightning on the way; but survives. They manage to enter the place, only to find out that the facility was filled with chained Cranks. The group met Brenda and Jorge, who led a dangerous band of survivors and have used the Cranks as their own guard dogs. When the two find that the group had come from WCKD and is looking for the Right Arm, the two agree to take them to the Right Arm, abandoning their group of survivors. Moments later, WCKD, led by Janson, storms the place, only for the facility to be destroyed by Jorge's explosives, however, Thomas and Brenda are left behind as the rest have escaped with Jorge during the chaos. Thomas and Brenda manage to escape the Cranks, only for Brenda to get infected by a Crank in the process. Thomas experiences a flashback of when he and Teresa were working for WCKD, in which Thomas tries to warn Teresa of WCKD's plans, only for the two to be separated by WCKD's troops. As Thomas and Brenda reunite with the rest of the group, Jorge interrogates Marcus, a survivor who secretly works for WCKD by taking Immunes to WCKD, into revealing the whereabouts of The Right Arm.

ST Trailer2 BackBreaker v1 ag

The group eventually arrive at The Right Arm's relief camps, where other innocent survivors are present, and are greeted by Vince, the leader of the Right Arm and is in charge of deciding whether they can stay or not. As Brenda's infection gets worse, Vince threatens to shoot Brenda, only to be stopped by Mary Cooper, a former WCKD scientist who reveals that Thomas was their informant. As Mary halts Brenda's infection using an enzyme cure, Mary explains that the enzyme can only be harvested from an Immune's body, not manufactured, and that arguments over the methods of manufacturing the cure with Ava lead to Mary's departure from WCKD. That evening, Teresa calls WCKD to her location, believing that WCKD's motivations are good, leading to an ambush by WCKD. Ava and Janson arrive and confront the Right Arm before WCKD troops captures survivors for experimentation, including Minho, Aris, and Sonya, while Janson mortally shoots Mary in the stomach. After Thomas and the Right Arm fend the WCKD troops off, Ava, Janson, and Teresa retreat with their captured survivors, Minho, Aris and Sonya. With only a fraction of survivors left at the site, Thomas plans an infiltration into WCKD and is determined to take them down, including Paige herself, to save his friends and save the group, as his friends and the Right Arm agree to help and prepare to fight back.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

Development of The Scorch Trials was announced on October, 2013 after 20th Century F" x bought the rights to the Book.[8] T.S. Nowlin, who worked on the Fantastic Four reboot, would pen the script, taking over for Noah Oppenheim. Nowlin completed the script soon before filming began, with returning director Wes Ball supervising the script. Ken Barthelmey, who worked on the Griever designs for the first film, would return to design the Cranks.

Pre-Production[]

Casting began, and Aiden Gillen was announced to portray A.D. Janson in September, 2014. In the next few days, Jacob Lofland and Giancarlo Esposito were announced as Aris Jones and Jorge, respectively. In October, Nathalie Emmanuel joined the cast as Harriet, the leader of Group B, and Katherine McNamara as Sonya, the co-leader of Group B, on December 22. One month before, Lili Taylor was cast as Mary Cooper, a "Doctor who helps Thomas and the Gladers", and Barry Pepper as Vince, a "Survivalist who is one of the last remaining soldiers of a legendary unit called the Right Arm."

In July 2014, Ball announced that the studio was expecting filming to begin sometime in the fall, if it's predecessor was successful. At the end of August, Wes Ball gave a statement on the status of the film, stating "About nine weeks out of shooting. We are in New Mexico right now. We've go a crew and stages. We are rapidly approaching our shoot time. The sets are being built. A lot of the same crew is coming back. Most of the cast is coming back, except for the ones who were killed [First film]. The script is coming along." Ball made another statement a week later, stating that "We've got stages, we've got crews coming in, Dylan will be back in a few weeks, we're building sets, and the script is being written. It's a bit of a race this time because we're cautiously optimistic, but we're feeling excited we're about to do something that's way more sophisticated, way more grown-up, and set up a saga here."

On September 21, 2014, 20th Century Fox announced that the film adaptation of The Scorch Trials would premiere on September 18, 2015.[9]

Filming[]

Principal photography commenced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 27, 2014,[10] and officially wrapped up on January 28, 2015.[11][12] Filming went on for 94 days before officially ending.

Post-Production[]

The original title for the film was The Maze Runner Chapter II: The Scorch Trials, before being changed during post-production to Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. The soundtrack, composed by John Paesano, was released on September 11, 2015, was released 8 days before the films theatrical release.

Release[]

The film was released on September 18, 2015. It was released to 25 different countries across the world days before the theatrical release in North America.

Marketing[]

At San Diego Comic-Con International 2014, Ball released the first piece of concept art for the film. Six stills were released on March 11, 2015.

The first official trailer was released on April 23, 2015, at 20th Century Fox's CinemaCon. It was not released online at the same time, but the 1 minute and 44-second teaser trailer premiered before Pitch Perfect 2 in May 2015. The trailer was released publicly on May 19, 2015. On July 10, 2015, a 30-minute sneak peek was screened at San Diego Comic Con International, with Ball, Dashner, and O'Brien also at the screening.

Home Media[]

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 15, 2015.

Response[]

Critical Response[]

Differences Between Novel and Film[]

Main article: The Scorch Trials book to film differences
  • The main premise of the book is that the Gladers are forced by WICKED to participate in a second Trial, having to complete the task of reaching the other side of the Scorch. The main premise of the movie, however, is that the Gladers actually escape from WCKD and their experiments and end up out in the Scorch. As such, the titular trial is absent in the film, which as a whole is a very loose adaptation of the book.
  • Following their escape from the Maze, the Gladers are not taken to a three-room building to recover from the maze and prepare for the next assignment. Instead, they are taken to a rather large facility, where WCKD intends to perform experiments on them.
  • The group traversing the Scorch in the film is much smaller and consists of most named characters of the book.
    • Unlike the book, Winston does not die in the thunderstorm, but instead is bitten by a Crank. He commits suicide before he can turn fully zombie-like.
    • Also, unlike the book, Teresa is not separated from the other Gladers long-term. She is briefly taken by WCKD and rescued by the Gladers before escaping to the Scorch with them.
  • There is no mention of different stages of the Flare. All victims encountered behave zombie-like.
  • The Right Arm and Vince do not make an appearance, nor are they mentioned until the The Death Cure, but both appear in the second movie. The Gladers overhear WCKD discussing the Right Arm and cross the Scorch because they hope they will find shelter with them.
    • Additionally, a character working for the Right Arm named Mary was created specifically for the movie franchise.
  • In the movie, Jorge and Brenda are explicitly said to not have the Flare when they are encountered and run a camp of survivors rather than a camp of Flare-victims. Their motivation for following the Gladers across the Scorch is that they also hope to find security from the Right Arm.
  • Thomas is never shot in the shoulder in the film.
  • Sonya and Harriet are not working with Teresa, but for the Right Arm instead.
  • In the movie, Teresa betrays Thomas and the Gladers by giving away their location to WCKD, rather than luring only Thomas into a gas-chamber as she did in the book. Aris has no part in the betrayal.
  • The book concludes with the Gladers completing their task and getting rescued by WICKED, before Thomas is separated from his friends. The movie ends with the Gladers and the Right Arm receiving a crushing defeat from WCKD, during which Minho is recaptured. The Gladers swear to free their friend from his imprisonment.
  • In the book, Aris betrays Thomas. But, in the film, he never betrays him.
  • In the book 20 Gladers survive after the Scorch, but iqn the film, it's 8. Those Gladers being Thomas, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Frypan, Winston, Jack, Tim, and Billy.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

  • To be added.

Pictures[]

Crank

Trivia[]

1st - Dexter Darden
2nd - Thomas Brodie-Sangster
3rd - Ki Hong Lee
4th - Kaya Scodelario
5th - Dylan O'Brien
  • Billy was seen in the first film with the other Gladers but disappeared in this film. This is due to Billy's actor, Landon Hazel, being unable to join for filming.

Sequel[]

Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the film adaption of The Death Cure, and the third and final film the series, was released on January 26, 2018.[13]

Related links[]

References[]

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