This September, another young adult, post-apocalyptic, Sci-Fi novel became a film. (There seems to be a trend these days…) In this case the film was a sequel no less, the second installment of The Maze Runner. This film, directed by Wes Ball and more commonly known as The Scorch Trials, picks up right where the first movie left off.

Thomas and his fellow group of gladers, (the boys living in the maze in the first movie) have been seemingly rescued by an opposing organization of the government-based group WCKD. WCKD had been holding the boys captive in a maze, as the rest of the world was ravaged by solar flares and a deadly disease. The boys captured by WCKD are believed to be immune to this disease, known as the flare, and therefore are the key to a cure. After their rescue, the boys are brought to a protected base of the new organization. They come to find that there are many other kids that WICKD had in their clutches, most of whom were also rescued. Things seem to be taking a turn for the better for our protagonists when Thomas, (Dylan O’brien) and another of the rescued kids Aris (Jacob Lofland) become skeptical of their “rescue.” The pair while sneaking around the base make a shocking discovery that leads them to stage a spontaneous escape from the base. After this, the group consisting of a few original gladers as well as Theresa (Kaya Scodelaria) and Aris, are thrown into the hopeless desert remains of the world they once knew, and faced with the challenge to survive.

The cast of this film may be unfamiliar to most people. For both Dylan O’brien and Kayla Scodelaria as well as many other of the young cast members, these movies are the biggest ones they have been apart of thus far in their careers. For being inexperienced, these kids still conveyed the emotion and desperation quite well in this movie. In scenes where the audience was supposed to feel sad or overwhelmed with hopelessness as the characters were, it was felt.

As far as sequels go, I actually enjoyed this one. For being a movie based off of a book as well as a sequel, I have to say I was expecting worse. This movie had a very different vibe than the first, which made the story much more interesting. The setting is much more hopeless, and the stakes are higher.

It comes down to purely survival, with scene after scene of thrilling and adrenaline-filled escapes. One such example is during the initial escape from WCKD’s base early on in the film. The group narrowly escapes from the base, only to be cast out into an enormous cloud of dust with winds whipping furiously during a harsh sand storm. They can barely see where they’re running, as the searchlights and WCKD’s soldiers close the gap in their pursuit. When it seems they have finally reached sanctuary within the remains of what was once a shopping mall, more horrors await inside.

This movie also introduces a new enemy to the characters, which gave the movie a tiny bit of a horror aspect as well. I will say at times it was a bit World War-Z like, (not to give anything away) but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Although some details from James Dashner’s novel may have been left out, I did not feel like anything super critical to the story was missing that I can remember from the novel. Yes, it was a bit confusing at times for lack of plot details, however someone who read the novel was thoroughly as confused as someone who did not when it came to this.

For what I was expecting of this movie, I recieved it and then some. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not another let down of a sequel. And for a movie based on a book, I was not disappointed in any way. Which, I would say is a rare occurrence for readers who see their beloved novels transformed on the big screen. For the stereotypical post-apocalyptic, action, sci-fi movie with a target audience consisting mostly of teenagers, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials was pretty good.