6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.7 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
The main kids have escaped, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet.
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo EspositoAction | 100% |
Adventure | 98% |
Sci-Fi | 71% |
Teen | 27% |
Thriller | 8% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Some viewers may feel themselves in somewhat the same predicament as Thomas (Dylan O’Thomas) did at the beginning of The Maze Runner as that film’s sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials gets underway, thrusting the audience into a noisy, confusing environment where not a lot seems to be making sense. This second entry in the Maze Runner franchise is stuffed to the gills in its early going with all sorts of specific verbiage like Gladers, Cranks, Flare and WCKD (pronounced “Wicked”, just in case anyone was wondering, in just one indication of the franchise’s lack of subtlety), which may leave some audience heads spinning as they attempt to either figure things out in media res or perhaps reacquaint themselves with Thomas and his band of merry (?) maze runners. In one way, the film’s opening is deliberately chaotic, amply documenting the kids’ confusion as they find themselves in an alien environment after having escaped the rigors of the labyrinth. Screenwriter T.S. Nowlin (adapting James Dashner’s Young Adult skewed novels) and director Wes Ball (both repeating their roles from the first film) actually begin the film with a dream sequence which seems perhaps intentionally reminiscent of wintertime concentration camp scenes offered up in another famous franchise, X-Men: The Complete Collection. That turns out to be a memory of Thomas’ which provides a bit of a clue as to his past, while also all too obviously pointing the way forward to what will ultimately be a bookending scene which offers a “callback” to this very sequence. That structural artifice is perhaps the best indication of how rote Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials often is. The film is still viscerally exciting at times, but it takes quite a long time to actually kick into high gear, and even then the story tends to progress in fits and starts, very much like a maze runner desperately trying to get from point A to point B without having much of a clue as to how exactly that should be accomplished.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Shot digitally with the Arri Alexa XT Plus, the film has undergone the traditional color grading treatment, with large swaths bathed alternately in blue and yellow (though there are occasional forays courtesy of actual lighting into more purple tones, as evidenced by screenshot 12). Detail emerges largely unscathed from these shifts in hue, even when some of the blue tones are virtually slathered on, especially early in the film. Once the kids break out into the Scorch, lighting and color grading are at least relatively more natural looking, and it's here that the film really starts to offer commendable sharpness, clarity and abundant fine detail. Contrast is slightly uneven, leading to a very minor amount of murk in some of the dimmer sequences. The location photography in and around New Mexico's wilderness regions offers some substantial depth of field, a tendency which is echoed with a bit of added softness in some of the CGI laden vistas of devastated urban environments.
As with the first Blu-ray release of this franchise, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials offers a blisteringly effective DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix which is rife with all the "bells and whistles" (and other sound effects) which audiophiles tend to desire in their action adventure blockbusters. There's a wealth of LFE courtesy not just of booming effects but also some of the lower registers of John Paesano's bombastic score, and several set pieces are awash in copious amounts of discrete channelization and cross channel effects like panning. Fidelity is superb throughout the presentation, offering excellent prioritization even in the most cacophonous sequences. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, and there are no issues of any kind to mention in this review.
- Visual Effects Breakdown (1080p; 1:06) features optional commentary by Wes Ball.
- Visual Effects Reel (1080p; 29:55)
- Concept Art
- Storyboards
The problem with running a maze is—one wrong turn, and you're right back where you started. The same might be said of this very franchise, for as I mentioned in the The Maze Runner Blu-ray review, some audience members may feel they've run this particular gauntlet without ever really getting anywhere. The film could have been judiciously trimmed by at least 15-20 minutes, and the first act considerably tightened, both of which might have helped to achieve a bit more dramatic momentum as things progressed into the Scorch. A silly and overly hyperbolic final few minutes also don't help much, but the film is at least buoyed by impressive production design and some artfully staged set pieces, as well as by an expected professionalism on the part of the large (and frequently quite young) cast. Fans of the franchise will probably be willing to overlook this second outing's shortcomings, but the third film had better finally offer a route to resolution, rather than rehashing the same old conflicts over and over again. Technical merits are very strong, the supplemental package nicely varied, and (with caveats noted) Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials comes Recommended.
w/ Photo Diary & Mini Comic Book
2015
2015
with exclusive Comic Book
2015
2015
New cover 2017
2015
2018
2015
2014
2019
2016
2018
Director's Cut
2009
2015
Corrected Disc / Mad Max 2
1981
+BD with the 3 versions
1991
2020
2018
2013
The Divergent Series
2015
Collector's Edition
2013
3 Disc Edition
2012
2015
2017
2009
2014