The Death Cure brings its own baggage to the table, of crouse, finally reaching our screens a full year later than planned due to a serious on-set accident that led to star Dylan O’Brien being hospitalised. As was the case in the previous installment, The Scorch Trials, the women are the highlight. Now revealed to be working both sides, Scodelario offers a merciful note of nuance (Aiden Gillen’s on the other end of this scale as Janson) to proceedings, her character never wavering from what we know to be her central motivations. Rosa Salazar as the tough-as-nails Brenda is also a welcome presence in what has been a heavily male-led franchise. The rest do their best with what they’re given, O’Brien slowly becoming a Hollywood curiosity simply for being a potentially great actor saddled with bad roles in bad films. His status in the Maze Runner franchise is the most egregious example of this, with the character never really coming alive with the charisma and humanity he’s become known for amongst Teen Wolf viewers. That said, despite the break in filming, it’s hard to see the join. Then there’s the ideological issue, which is never given its due. The problem facing humanity in this scenario is that a few must be sacrificed in order to give the many a chance – a classic ethical issue. The setting of Death Cure then adds a 1%-ers element to the problem, with Ava Paige and Janson hiding in their ivory tower as the infected burn below. But because the scientists are the baddies, and Thomas is our protagonist, we’re clearly supposed to side with the lads on the issue. Honestly, it’s hard to buy into the life and death scenarios when everyone is acting against their own interests. Thomas and the others could save the world if they just had a cup of tea with Ava over a blood transfusion, but they’re too stubborn to do so. Once we get within the city walls, the pace rarely lets up and it’s here the films benefits most from its assembly of actors. Thomas struggles to make a mark, but O’Brien does good exhausted pathos and the chemistry with both Scodelario and Salazar makes this one of the most interesting love triangles (which is a slightly unfair label for the film’s dynamic) of the genre in recent times. There’s also a bit with a bus and a crane that’s just insane enough that it works. Most book fans will be looking forward to the Newt arc, I’m sure, and without spoiling anything I’ll say that it’s one of the film’s other highlights. In the adaptation even more than the books, this is a love story between the occupants of the maze – an unashamedly emotional demonstration of platonic male loyalty and affection in a world where such things are rare to see. But while that doesn’t quite redeem the film from its plot and logic holes, unnecessary length and all of your typical problems that come with adapting a novel to appease an internet-era fandom, the fact that The Death Cure has overcome its obstacles to become a decent finale for the franchise is a miracle in itself. For eager fans of the book it’ll hopefully be worth the wait.
title: “Maze Runner The Death Cure Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-24” author: “Linda Wolf”
Watching The Death Cure brings out a nostalgic feeling for an era decidedly past, rather than simply an irritation at the formulas of the young adult dystopia. It’s not good, but its earnest in its engagement with its source material, giving the franchise’s fans a satisfying conclusion to the series and non-fans (if any of them see this) almost two and a half hours of action-packed, wistful YA nonsense. We’re probably never going to get that final Divergent installment; we might as well enjoy this last, gasping breath of the Young Adult dystopia genre. As far as franchise-ending installments go, it’s one of the better ones. The task won’t be easy. Not only is the Last City surrounded by a massive wall, but WCKD’s CEO Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) and chief security officer Janson (Aidan Gillen) are actively looking for Thomas. On the emotionally challenged side, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) is one of the scientists conducting the experiments on Minho, and Thomas has not yet worked through his issues surrounding her betrayal. It’s characters like Teresa who point towards The Death Cure‘s wasted thematic potential. Teresa’s decision to betray her Glader friends in service of finding a cure is treated as an unforgivable crime both by the remaining Gladers and the movie itself. The Death Cure puts a lot of effort into making Thomas seem like the unshakeable hero, a protagonist whom we should unreservedly throw our support behind. However, he is ultimately a narrow-minded character. Thomas wants to save his friends; Teresa wants to save humanity. If you spend any time whatsoever thinking about the logistics, motivations, or world-building of The Death Cure, it all starts to fall apart. This franchise has still not convincingly explained why WCKD needed to allocate its resources into putting a bunch of kids in a rather expensive looking maze in order to cure a virus. It’s also unclear why both The First Arm and WCKD are almost exclusively populated by teens and young adults, giving the impression that the interns are running everything. This is the Millennial dream, as imagined by a non-Millennial. It’s also unclear why The First Arm would choose to follow Thomas, to the detriment of their larger cause. At one point, resistance fighters Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) have an open discussion wondering why they are helping these “strangers” they just met. They probably shouldn’t have had the chat—they’re not allowed to say “because he’s this movie’s protagonist,” which is the true reason. That being said, The Death Cure mostly avoids lingering on any of these questions, streamlining the plot from the much-weaker Scorch Trials into an explosive break-in movie and letting these young actors give it their all. The cast steps up, selling their teen angst and relationship drama even when you can’t quite remember who knows who from where and why some characters are so pissed at other characters. It doesn’t matter. When Dylan O’Brien tears up, you care. The movie gets better as it goes along, hitting its stride once we are able to peer inside the walls of the Last City. The aerial shots of the gleaming city and the polished interior of WCKD headquarters serve as an ominous calm before the storm, and boy does director Wes Ball go all out in this film’s final act, which sees the Last City falling to pieces as Thomas fights to save his friends. It’s the kind of epic background showdown I would have liked to see in the final Hunger Games installment, as Katniss made her way through the falling Capitol. The Death Cure probably won’t attract many new converts, but those who give this film a chance will be rewarded with a nonsensical yet surprisingly competent action film. Fans of the series have been given a concluding installment that takes its source material seriously, while emphasizing the aspects of this story that translate best to blockbuster film formula. The Death Cure won’t make you hungry for a resurgence in the YA dystopia genre, but it will make you appreciate it happened.
