Book vs. Movie: Maze Runner – The Scorch Trials

Hey guys!
Today I want to share my thoughts on the second installment in the Maze Runner series. Let’s see about the Scorch Trials – what’s better, book or movie?
Make sure to also check out my post on the first part!

 

The Plot:
After escaping the Maze the gladers are taken in by WCKD. They want to believe that the hard times are over, but little do Thomas, Theresa, Newt and the others know about what is to come…

 

Book vs. Movie:
So guys, I know that there is a huge fandom around the Maze runner series, but I have to admit that I am less than impressed.
I’ll begin with my thoughts on the novel by James Dashner. The first part in the series was not perfect, but it featured some interesting aspects and I was excited to see where Scorch Trials would take us.
However, I ended up disappointed. Not all of it made sense, over quite a few chapters it was boring and you could see where this was heading from the beginning. Nevertheless, I was rather by the way finished this novel. To be honest, it seemed like even the author didn’t really know what to do with the story or what to come up with. After this let-down of a book I was still interested to see what the movie would look like!
The first surprise was that the stories are quite different. Although it kicks off in the same place, the movie takes other routes quite fast. It was a good idea! The plot in the book was boring and felt very uninspired at moments so I completely embraced this different take. On the plus side we get some great action scenes and the story comes with a fast pace. It makes a tiny bit more sense than the original idea but I still had some problems with the film. There’s barely any character development going on and just about everybody feels quite shallow. Aidan Gillan as ratman did not work out at all. As much as I loved him in GOT, he was just not the right one for this job. Furthermore, I was surprised that the film was so dark. There are a few intense moments in the novel but with the movie it felt much more real and they went a step further. Some of the scenes could have been from a horror – especially those featuring the cranks. As it’s one of those flicks directed at teens I hadn’t seen this coming.
However, ultimately the film failed to deliver. The story doesn’t get to you or touch you in any way. The action scenes are good, but there’s not much going on between those. I am not happy with all the casting choices but I think some of the actors could have done better, had there been more in terms of character development.

Ultimately I was disappointed by both book and movie. My recommendation is to go with the film. It has a better pace and a somewhat more interesting storyline. Despite my annoyance at the moment I will still check out the final installment, Death Cure. So stay tuned for the review!

 

Did you read the book? Watch the movie? Let me know in the comments what you think!

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