September 18: MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

n the first film, Thomas joined a group of 50 other male teens known as “The Gladers” inside of a massive and deadly maze. (Think the Tri-Wizard Tournament maze, but on Miracle-Gro.) Don’t get too attached to that adorable gif above, though… Most of these shanks didn’t survive the first film.

The dystopian future of “The Scorch Trials” totally blows. First, sun flares scorched the Earth, making much of it uninhabitable. The ice caps melted. Coastal cities disappeared under water. The Post-Flares Coalition (a.k.a., the terribly-named governmental body in charge after the scorching) decided to release a virus that would cull some of the population, making it more manageable. Unfortunately, the virus mutated, becoming communicable and slowly turning those who were exposed insane. This virus is known as “The Flare.”

This is second-in-a-trilogy syndrome, and not at its best – nothing really happens because nothing is allowed to happen. The kids can’t defeat anyone, or even learn anything, because all that presumably happens in the next film. In a great trilogy, this is where the character material would take centre stage, heightening our investment before the big showdown in part three. In The Scorch Trials, there’s none of that.