After years of waiting, the final installment of the Maze Runner franchise, based on the popular James Dashner book series, is here.  

SPOILER ALERT.

The first Maze Runner, released almost four years ago, was set entirely within a huge maze, populated by young males who call themselves “Gladers”. Our main character, Thomas, was dumped into the maze without his memory, and bonded with fellow Gladers like Minho, Newt, and the only female in the labyrinth, Teresa, as they try to solve the mystery of the maze while also doing battle with the horrifying robotic-like creatures called "Grievers".  At the end of the film it was revealed that the maze was a gigantic science experiment run by WCKD, a company searching for the cure to a world-ending plague called the Flare. 

In 2015’s “The Scorch Trials”, we saw Thomas and his pals run away from WCKD, survive the scorch and ally with resistance fighters led by a man named Jorge. At the end of the film, Minho was captured by WCKD and Teresa was exposed as a WCKD spy.

Now that you’re caught up, let’s dive into the newest film. “The Death Cure” picks up about six months after the events of the second installment. Thomas, the Gladers and a few others decide to save a select few of the captured immunes, one in particular being Minho. They first start by successfully hijacking a railcar from one of WCKD’s trains, only to discover that Minho was on another railcar. Thomas, Newt and a few others conceive another plan to retrieve Minho by breaking into WCKD’s base of operations, which is in the world’s only existing city. In order to do this, they have to kidnap Teresa, who is now a researcher for WCKD, and use her to break in.

This film has a fantastic cast. Dylan O’Brien is Thomas, Thomas Brodie-Sangster is Newt, Ki Hong Lee is Minho, Will Poulter is the returning Gally and Aidan Gillen is Janson. It was clear that the bond was real both on and off screen.  Wes Ball, who directed the first two movies, helped audiences engross themselves in the action of the film. Also, the film score by John Paesano was perfect as it captured each moment flawlessly.

Overall, the film was really enjoyable. It put readers of the books and also unknowing audiences on the edge of their seats and had some tearing up towards the end. It was a beautiful tribute to James Dashner’s vision.

I give the film a solid 4.5/5.