Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is in every way superior to its predecessor The Maze Runner. The film is fast-paced, consistently engaging, introduces new, colorful characters with investing dynamics, balances drama with slices of comedic relief, and is chock-full of exciting action within a variety of perilous obstacles. It’s one of the finest Young Adult film adaptations and a delight to view—yet, believe it or not, The Scorch Trials is also an ideal video game film adaptation.
Yes, the title does not deceive. I bet you’re thinking; “This man’s crazy! The Scorch Trials is a Young Adult book adaptation, it has nothing to do with video games.” Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, for while the film is not adapted from any direct video game, it is heavily influenced by them—specifically, video game developer Naughty Dog’s series The Last of Us and Uncharted. The Scorch Trials is everything most live-action video game adaptations have yet to figure out.
The film plays out like a modern video game, separating itself into various unique “levels” with different challenges and tones—action, adventure, thriller, survival-horror, etc.—to fit the current situation. More importantly, it captures the same fast-paced adrenaline rush one gets from playing a modern, cinematic game with an engaging story. Any director preparing to make a modern video game adaptation should take note of The Scorch Trials’ format. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the film “chapter by chapter” to emphasize my point.
Note: there will be some minor spoilers for the Uncharted series and MAJOR SPOILERS for The Last of Us series. Expectedly, there are also MAJOR SPOILERS to The Scorch Trials.
Chapter One: The Facility
Premise: The series takes place in an apocalyptic world where solar flares scorched the Earth and a deadly virus called “the Flare” began turning people into mindless, violent creatures called Cranks. Protagonist Thomas and his teenage friends are a generation immune to the virus, and as such, were taken in and experimented on by an organization called WCKD (pronounced Wicked, aka the worst name you can give an organization trying to appear as the good guys). The Scorch Trials begins with Thomas and co. being rescued from WCKD and brought to a facility where they will apparently be safe. They are not. Turns out the facility is secretly WCKD, who plan on gradually “draining” the remaining teens—under the guise of transporting them to another safe zone—to create vaccines for the Flare. Thomas and co. must find a way to escape the facility
Similarities to Video Games/Video Game Formats: The film’s first “chapter” begins similarly to a steady opening tutorial. There’s a brief flashback to its protagonist’s past before cutting to present day. Immediately Thomas and co.’s transport is attacked by Cranks, yet WCKD’s soldiers hold them off while the teens rush to safety. The film immediately sets its tone by establishing new dangers to the teens without putting them in any conflict. The Scorch Trials’ opening is noticeably similar to a video game’s—it sets up its premise, its characters, and its dangers without immediately throwing the “player” (aka teens) into battle. The film then sets out to establish its teens’s goals: escape WCKD’s facility, survive the harsh environment outside and find a new safe haven.
The first chapter is a mix of stealth and action-thriller as Thomas discovers WCKD’s plans and comes up with a way for the group to escape. The latter scenes are exciting and engaging, ending with the antagonist’s right-hand man Janson building up the succeeding chapters; “The maze is one thing, but you won’t survive one day in the Scorch.” WCKD’s leader Ava is remarkably similar to the Fireflies’ leader Marlene from The Last of Us. Both females lead a group that plans on sacrificing immune teenager(s) to create a vaccine for a zombie-like infection. While determined to achieve such goal at all costs, both leaders show a level of guilt for their actions, such as when Ava tells Janson; “I don’t want them to feel any pain.”
Chapters Two &Three: The Mall & The Scorch
Premise: Thomas and co. escape the facility and run off into a desert storm. They take shelter inside an abandoned mall and recuperate, deciding to search for The Right Arm—a resistance group located far off in the mountains—where the teens will apparently be safe. Unfortunately, the teens find themselves a new danger with the Cranks and struggle to escape their grasp. The group escape the mall and continue on foot towards the mountains. They travel through a large decaying city and barely avoid being spotted by WCKD aircrafts. They discover one of the teens, Winston, has been infected by a Crank bite and are forced to make a difficult choice.
Similarities to Video Games/Video Game Formats: The first to second chapter’s transition alters the tone from action-thriller to horror as the teens wander around the eerily silent mall. The film throws in some light comedic moments before jump scaring into a survival-horror chase sequence. Zombies and malls have been a long-established staple in both film and video games, yet The Scorch Trials shares two noteworthy distinctions with The Last of Us’ variant.
First, Cranks are not zombies in The Scorch Trials’ novel, rather, they are infected people gradually driven insane to the point of losing their humanity (think Splicers from Bioshock). The film completely alters the Flare’s symptoms, making them near-identical to The Last of Us’ first stage of infection. Second, the scenes where the group run from the Crank share a striking resemblance to The Last of Us’ running sections. The pacing slows down once the teens escape the mall into an abandoned city to build ambiance and give time for character interactions/development. Wandering around large decaying cities is The Last of Us’ forte. Hell, it’s an emphasized element on both series's covers. Combined with the chapter’s stealth element, more subdued tone for character interactions, and an effectively somber suicide—that never occurs in the novel—for a character the audience barely knows, and The Scorch Trials begins to really feel like a Last of Us homage.
Chapters Four, Five & Six: The Storm, The Outsiders & The Sewers
Premise: The group continues through the desert until one night they spot life in the distance. After just barely escaping a solar storm, the group is captured by a group of outsiders led by the eccentric Jorge and teenager Brenda. The outsiders plan on selling the teens back to WCKD, yet Jorge and Brenda strike a deal to abandon their group and lead the teens to The Right Arm in hopes of also getting in. Chaos erupts, however, as WCKD arrives and starts a firefight with the outsiders. Jorge manages to get most of the teens to safety except Thomas and Brenda who get trapped by an explosion and are separated from the group. Thomas and Brenda manage to escape through an underground sewer system. There they find a new breed of Crank who attack and infect Brenda.
Similarities to Video Games/Video Game Formats: Here’s where things go from possible homage to clearly taking from The Last of Us. Chapter five introduces the film’s two best characters: Jorge and Brenda. Jorge is a ruthless outsider who offers to smuggle the immune teens at a price, while Brenda is a badass, sassy teenager who is unrelated to Jorge yet views him as a father figure. Brenda is also the only person Jorge truly cares about and is immensely protective over. Ruthless smuggler, badass sassy teen girl, father-daughter relationship. Sounds an awful lot like The Last of Us' main duo Joel and Ellie? Ok, so there is more to these characters—Jorge, for example, is a delightfully crazy anti-hero who is charmingly comedic even when brutal. Brenda has a bit of a vamp side to her, and clearly has a thing for males. So, these characters have clear distinct differences from Joel and Ellie, not to mention their novel counterparts (whose personalities are kept relatively faithful in the film adaptation) came out before The Last of Us.
But then comes chapter six. So now there are two characters—one an overly determined, immune teenager and the other a badass snarky female with a father-daughter relationship to a ruthless smuggler (fuse them together and you practically have Ellie)—given downtime for bonding while sneaking around a dangerous area. The duo then comes across these guys. Now, these guys don’t exist anywhere in the books, being completely new additions to the series. These Cranks have mutated plant-like vines across their bodies and on the sewer walls, cannot see, and make clicking sounds. They’re a straight-up mix between stages two, three (Clickers) and five of The Last of Us' infected—there is absolutely nothing subtle about it. Yet that's ok, for while it is most certainly borrows from The Last of Us, the film's incorporation and utilization of the video game's strengths into its Young Adult story helps makes these chapters so thoroughly entertaining.
Chapters five and six are development periods mixed with engaging, investing action and brief moments of dark comedy. It’s the first instances where the film really gets into bonding characters together—from Jorge and Brenda’s father-daughter relationship to Brenda and Thomas’ growing closeness. WCKD attacking the outsiders leads into an action-packed escape sequence ending on a climatic explosion. Brenda and Thomas’ desperate flight and/or flight from the Cranks as they exit the sewers and climb up a semi-toppled building is a thrilling experience. The growing chemistry between Thomas and Brenda combined with Brenda’s recent introduction adds an extra sense of tension to their escape—making it unsure whether Brenda will escape the Cranks' grasp.
Chapters Seven, Eight, Nine & Ten: The Marketplace, The Mountains, The Right Arm & The Finale
Premise: Thomas and Brenda manage to escape the Cranks and reach an occupied marketplace. Thomas and Brenda search for their group but are tricked by a man named Marcus into taking a drug. The two pass out, but are saved by Jorge and the teens, who brutally interrogate Marcus into revealing The Right Arm’s whereabouts. The group steal Marcus’ car and drive to the mountains. There, they are shot at by snipers and forced to take cover. The group is captured and brought to The Right Arm’s camp, where, after a tense showdown, Brenda is taken in and given a cure for the infection.
At the camp, the group recuperates until one of Thomas’ close friends Teresa reveals she has informed WCKD of their location, believing their intentions to be good. A final showdown begins between WCKD, The Right Arm, and the teens. Thanks to a last-minute intervention by Jorge and Brenda, WCKD are driven off, though not before capturing Thomas’ friend Minho. The next day, Thomas rallies the remaining survivors to join him in taking down WCKD and saving his friend. The remaining Right Arm, teens, and Jorge declare it a suicide mission, but agree to help nonetheless. Cue closing credits.
Similarities to Video Games/Video Game Formats: Chapters seven and nine once again give time and place for character interactions, fleshing out Brenda’s relationship with Thomas and Jorge while giving levity for the teens to chuckle and reminisce before all hell breaks loose. The Marketplace chapter is straight out of an Uncharted game, specifically reminiscent of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception with both protagonists getting drugged. The film’s action sections, in general, reminisce more traditional video game conflicts—such as the finale being one big shoot ‘em up against nameless baddies and their sinister boss Janson, whose plot armor protects him despite wearing far less actual armor than his goons. The finale concludes the series on an explosive note—completing Thomas and co.’s objective while setting up for its future installment in an enticing manner.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials takes what makes modern video games so appealing and adapts it into a feature-length film. A bombardment of engaging action sequences, a variety of settings and obstacles to keep from getting repetitive—exciting thrills, swift pacing, chemical interactions, drama with shades of lightheartedness, and characters I end up giving a crap about. The film utilizes modern video games’s strengths—occasionally flat out copying them—to benefit its storytelling style. It’s far from perfect and has its share of idiot ball moments, but its strengths far outweigh the flaws. If anything, those minor blotches give the film an even stronger video game-esque charm. If live-action video game film adaptations can learn to do what director Wes Ball accomplishes here, then such adaptations will certainly improve upon their past attempts's shortcomings.