The long-awaited conclusion to the Maze Runner movie franchise has finally arrived. Fans of the franchise waited in anticipation for years for Death Cure’s release, which was originally set to release in theaters nearly a year before it did. However, due to an accident on set that resulted in the lead actor Dylan O’Brien being seriously injured, the shooting of the film was delayed. Fans were thrilled to see that the movie was finally set to be released at the end of January. But after being in theaters for nearly a month, it has received mixed reviews.

Death Cure may be a generally well regarded. That being said, it is far from perfect. The film has a brutally long runtime of 142 minutes. Many scenes feel dragged out or meaningless all together. Strings of dialogue seem to be repeated or unnecessary for a movie with a fairly simple plot. There are many differences from the book it is based off of. This can be a bad and a good thing, as some plot elements from the book may have fit well in a novel, but did not transition well onto the big screen.

At the same time, many things felt needlessly changed, sometimes for the worse. One of the most negative differences from the book is nearly everything with Minho’s character arc. In the film, Minho has been kidnapped by WICKED, therefore Thomas and the other Gladers need to breach into the WICKED headquarters and rescue him. In the book Minho was with Thomas and the rest of the Gladers the entire time. A lot of people, myself included, did not like how far the director strayed from the original material.

While some plot elements of the movie were not received well in the eyes of fans, there were numerous differences and moments that were. The Death Cure is considered to be one of the most action packed young adult movies ever made. The entire second half of the movie feels like an hour long climax that’s full of intense action. While some choices made in the ending aren’t looked on with positivity, it’s a mostly satisfying conclusion.  An exclusive scene to the movie is its first scene. In this scene, Thomas and a few others attempt to extract Minho from a moving train. It is one of the finest action scenes in the movie that did not even appear in the book. This scene really grabs the viewers’ attention and draws them in.

Another positive element about the movie is the cast’s performance. Almost every character is brought alive by their actor or actress. Stand out actors and actresses include, Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, and Patricia Clarkson. Along with the performance, the visual and special effects are remarkable. The look of many objects and buildings are truly futuristic and well thought out. In a scene near the end, Thomas and Teresa are on top of the WICKED headquarters as it is in flames and about to collapse. The image of the two of them surrounded by fire on top of the largest building in sight is a visually stunning moment.

All in all The Death Cure is a adequate movie that holds some fantastic examples of action and intensity. It also concludes the Maze Runner series in a mostly satisfying way. However, it does lose some points for having some needless differences between it and the book, along with it having a long runtime.

Link to photo – (https://vimeo.com/253742457)