One of the most successful movies based on a young adult novel last year was The Maze Runner. Fox Studios produced the film at low cost to insure the completion of a trilogy and less than a year later we have our first full trailer for the next installment, The Scorch Trials. Dylan O’Brien returns in the starring role, along with director Wes Ball who is looking to expand on his first movie in some daring ways.
The full trailer shows a scope that is much more ambitious than its predecessor. The addition of veteran actors like Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones), Barry Pepper (True Grit), and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), can only add gravitas to the picture and hopefully ground the expanded world. Part of the charm of The Maze Runner was that they were able to make the scale look much more grand than the production budget would suggest. However with multiple locales including a post-apocalyptic wasteland, this looks to be a much more ambitious movie.
Not only is the scale more ambitious, so is the story’s science fiction leanings. It seems the political intrigue behind the clandestine WCKD organization will continue to be explored in the sequel. It’s revealed that the Flame virus is decimating the population, creating crazed zombies. The shift in tone and genre, will certainly come as a surprise to viewers not familiar with the books. It will be interesting to see if audiences will be onboard for the shift, or if the zombies will actually be a detriment. Whether it was the runners escaping the mechanical maze or the monstrous grievers, there was always a sense of man versus machine in The Maze Runner. That is actually what made the film stand out in the crowded field of YA movies. We will see if audiences are willing to go along for the ride. Check out the trailer.
Official Synopsis:
In the sequel to the 2014 adaptation, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials opens in theaters on September 18th, 2015.
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Source: Fox