The Death Cure

The Maze Runner saga comes to a close with its weakest installment yet, as director Wes Ball delivers a bloated and punishingly overlong narrative that wears out its welcome to a palpable degree. The storyline, detailing Dylan O’Brien’s Thomas’ efforts to stop WCKD once and for all, ultimately boasts too few elements to justify a 142 minute running time, which is disappointing, to be sure, given that Wes Ball kicks The Death Cure off with yet another of the series’ signature action-oriented openings – with the strength of this sequence, which can’t quite top the one in The Scorch Trials, seemingly setting the stage for a better-than-expected finish. It becomes clear fairly quickly, though, that scripter T.S. Nowlin isn’t interested in deviating from the series’ erratic sensibilities, with the movie, perhaps inevitably, progressing into a more-of-the-same midsection that’s often more miss than it is hit. And although the film’s first half remains watchable due to Ball’s solid direction and the efforts of an impressively solid supporting cast, The Death Cure ultimately segues into a third act that couldn’t possibly be less interesting or more annoying – with the inclusion of some decent action unable to compensate for a somewhat endless and oddly misguided climax (ie this doesn’t seem like a franchise that needs an unstoppable, slasher-like villain). There is, in the end, little doubt that this entire trilogy could (and should) have been boiled down to one tightly-edited film, which is a shame, really, given the massive potential afforded by the premise and the talent in front of and behind the camera.

*1/2 out of ****