The Maze Runner Trilogy (The Movies)

This original post was published 11/14/19. Only a few months before a real pandemic changed our lives... 

A Pre-Pandemic View of a The Maze Runner Movie Series

Nov 14 2019-

    Well, I really didn't know what I was getting into when I decided to watch these movies! I'd read the series twice through. (other then The Kill Order, I can't put myself though that one again..) I do not like to see a movie before reading the book. I don't even want to see the cast! I want it to all form in my head like the author planned it when he wrote it. I have never watched the end of the Hunger Games films due to how much they messed it up and I was not a fan of the casting. I was reading it when Mockingjay II came out and I kept seeing bits of the movie on TV... I was annoyed when I saw a big spoiler in a trailer!

    The first glimpse I got of The Maze Runner cast from the movies was actually on a site that was selling posters and stuff. I decided to take a look and was pleased I could tell which character was which! That was encouraging! I thought to myself if they mess up the casting of Newt then the movie was going to be bad... but at least the guy in the poster did meet the description of Newt and even the right body language in the photo... Thomas looked fairly well casted. Alby, Minho, and Chuck were easy to spot too... so I had hope! 

    So I start off the movie. Thomas looks a bit older then I had pictures in my mind but understandable. You don't want to hire a real 16 year old to carry a movie like that. Teens are often cast with older actors. Then here comes Newt. Now in the books Newt is a year or two older then Thomas and taller... that was not what I was seeing. (I know its silly but stuff like that bother me... can we say... Katniss' blue eyes and Peeta's brown?! Dye Katniss' hair brown and bleach Peeta's blond, nobody will notice... Oh, I noticed!) I noticed later that Newt is in fact a little bit taller then Thomas but it looks like they tried to hide that when filming. More over the very first thing I noticed was that Newt looked not much older then 14! What? All I could figure while watching it was he was perfect for the part so they hired him even though being too young... ok, I can get that. But it was a little funny though having the leader of the Glade looking like the youngest of the bunch besides Chuck... Then Newt opened his mouth, I feel a little bit stupid admitting this but I'd read the book several times at that point and only once had I noticed Newt talked like he was English, and then I forgot all about it. So it was a little surprising when Newt started talking. I quickly remembered it though and was kind of impressed that they actually decided to use that in the movie. When I read the books again after watching the movie I found where Newt's accent is addressed at the beginning of the first book. Someone makes the comment that Thomas would be able to understand what they were saying in apposed to Newt. I missed that completely till then. The only reason it accrued to me before seeing the movie was the phrasings that were used. I watch a fair amount of British shows on PBS and Youtube and it's funny sometimes hearing how their language is different then ours. I recognized Newt's phrasings where different then the other characters and sounded British. No, the constant use of "bloody" was not what tipped me off. It was the different structures of his sentences! 

    Chuck and Minho were well cast as well. I liked Alby but in the books he is not that likable but the change worked which will be a continuing theme with these movies. Gally was changed as well. In the books Gally had been stung by a Griever before Thomas arrives. Here he is stung afterward. Ben does try to kill Thomas but after being stung AFTER Thomas arrived. Unlike the book nobody even ever sees a Griever before Thomas arrives.

    The change that did really seem stupid to me is that they do not remember their name when they arrive. It comes to them later. Thomas does not remember his name until he hits his head while wrestling with Gally. I really don't understand why they made that change. To me it added nothing to the story.

    As the movie goes on more and more of the story gets rewritten. In my opinion its best not to read the books before watching these... cause if you do you will get way too confused! The first time I watched them I didn't know what to make of what I had just seen... the more they changed the more they had to change to have it make since. They were good at having important things happening but for a completely different reason then it did in the book! Gally still does kill Chuck but not because they were being controlled by WICKED but out of insanity caused from getting stung by a Griever. And Chuck is shot not stabbed and instead of Thomas beating Gally up he gets stabbed with a spear... You can completely forget about WICKED controlling their thoughts at all in the movies. Thomas and Teresa never have a telepathic connection.

    Then we move on to The Scorch Trials... this is were the story completely changes from the books. In the book they are taken to a place where they are nearly starved to death and all other sort of tests to continue the testing on their "Killzone" patterns. The only nod to the beginning of the book was a cut scene where the surviving Gladers are fed after being taken out of the maze. Yes, the scene was cut but you can find it on YouTube along with some other really important scenes that were cut. So yeah, completely forget what you think you know about The Scorch Trails. They basically took out the Scorch Trials in The Scorch Trails!

    So, new movie, new characters are added. The cast of The Maze Runner was so well cast and true to the books. The Scorch Trails veered away from the book a bit more. I personally think Aris was the weirdest. In the book Aris was clearly Asian and pretty normal and likable. (and telepathic, but we know that goes out the window at this point) In the movie we get this awkward really strange kid bordering on outright creepy with this strongest southern accent that is so out of place you can't figure out what they were thinking when they cast this guy and told him to play the character that way! Come to think of it I've watched a lot of interviews with the cast but I don't recall seeing him interviewed... I don't know if that is the way he really talks or if he is weird in real life or not. (that's something I should look up, lol)

    In the book there is a very important shifting of power between Newt, Minho, and Thomas. Since this is no longer "The Scorch Trials" this no longer has a place in the story. Thomas takes the lead and with only a little flack Newt follows behind him. (Again, fairly important cut scene addressing this can be found on YouTube) If you have read the book you are wondering at this point what is the point of this movie?! Honestly even though I do like these movies and think they were well done I see this one the weakest of the three when it come to plot.

    But back to the new cast mates here. The Gladers do link up with Brenda and Jorge... but no, Brenda's backstory had to be rewritten as well being there is no reason for her to be there if there is no trials going on. As for the actress, she wasn't bad... but she wasn't quite what I pictured as Brenda either. And the hair... why did they make her look like a boy? And THEN she catches the Flare! Yeah, her back story was completely changed. I did not understand why Thomas pulled out Chucks art when they are talking about Brenda's brother George. (which if you have read the books you realize he was in the Maze and died) I have to wonder why they didn't make Brenda's brother Chuck... not some Glader we never even see except for his name carved on a wall. If you are going in that direction she should be Chuck's sister. The audience would develop a much stronger connection to her and Thomas would actually be able to give her the thing he made for his mother.

    So how old was Jorge in the books? That is the question, lol. I think in the books he was likely meant to be in his 20s/30s but I don't have a problem casting him older like that. It makes since. His age does not effect the character at all but in the movie we are left wondering, why doesn't he get the Flare? In the books he is immune working for WICKED in the trials.

    Now they did keep the part about there being another Maze with only girls and that as in the book is where Aris had been. So they do bring in Sonya and Harriet. These two were cast true to the book. Harriet was dark skinned and Sonya was Newt's sister and does resemble him. It is never address in the movies about the whole thing of Sonya/Lizzy being Newt's sister but going by the way they cast her I think they were suggesting that. And I give these movies credit for details like this even though so much was rewritten. Like Newt has a limp from the first movie though it was never addressed until the last film and... then cut, but... I'll get into that later!

_________(below, addition to blog 9/17/2021) 

   The Death Cure strays the most from the books... cause they had to due to all the changes they made in the prior movies. But I can't say I hated it. So with all those changes the character of Newt became even most important. In the book we lose him about half way through but that is not the case in the movie. They did stick with the back story of Newt for the most part but the scene that addresses his suicided attempt was also cut from the movie. The scene can be found on YouTube if you want to see it. This in the book was a very important part of the story in the book and even with the rewrite is still important in understanding why Newt makes the choses he does. With this left out we don't know why Newt choses Minho life over his own... 

  But you know with all these changes they could have made one big one that I don't think many would have minded... let Newt live. In the books there was no way of saving Newt it was only a question of when and where. In the movie they could have saved him... and can we acknowledge how likable and just freaking adorable the movie version of Newt was. He was likeable in the book but... why did they have to do that to us...?

  All in all it's a good movie series. It's not the books. But it's well written. If you have never read the books you would enjoy it for the most part. Actually you may enjoy it more if you haven't read it! If only I could say that about the Hunger Games... Yeah, I'll never get over that...

The Fever Code (The Maze Runner Series)

    So The Kill Order was not what I was expecting for a sequel. But this, The Fever Code was what I was looking forward to! You got a good prequel when you finish and start all over again with the first book! Like reading in a circle! And that is exactly what I did! This brings so much light to book #1! Love it!
    If you read Book #1 and was confused, read The Fever Code first.


_________________Spoiler Alert________

    I wonder how much of The Fever Code was put together while the original book was being written. I do see a few possible flaws... or an attempt to correct flaws.

  One that stood out was Thomas' first meeting with Teresa which is recorded in the end of The Kill Order. In The Kill Order Thomas is younger about 5 maybe, and meets Teresa is told about how they will get implant to let them telepathy communicate and they are given rooms that are connected by a shared living area.
  This does not happen in The Fever Code. The explanation being his memory was erased due to the meeting going badly but we never know exactly what went wrong during this meeting. I guess this is being explained in that the first time he met Teresa he was fresh from being tortured to except his new name. He is much too unstable to handle everything they are telling him. That's my guess anyway... But I want to know when these memories where erased? Cause he seems to have a massive headache before he goes to meet her the second time and he feels as though this has happened before which was a few years back but he just got the implant then so when did they erase the memories? A few years before or the day he meet her again? And wouldn't that mean he should have known her when he met her in the hall before the implant because he couldn't have had his memories wiped yet because he doesn't have the implant in there to be able to do it yet... am I'm making since? How did they erase his memories if they were erased before he got the implant? There's no explanation that I see.


Another thing I noticed was memories her had in the Scorch Trials did not happen in The Fever Code. I remember a scene where he and Teresa are hiding behind a door eavesdropping.

  Another scene where Thomas does not want to communicate with Teresa via the telepathy but the creators want him too and Teresa is trying to get him to do it. I did come up with a explanation for that because they started talking like that to each other before officially told them too and then a number of years are skipped where this moment could have happened if for some reason he was unhappy with what Wicked was telling him to do and rebelling against them that way.

  The biggest flaw is Chapter 53 of The Scorch Trials. Thomas has a "memory-dream" where they Thomas and Rachael are going in to get their memories wiped to go into the maze. The Fever Code completely contradicts this ever happening... there is no way around it. Thomas was drugged and had his memory taken when the plan was not to do that. The letter at the end of The Fever Code was a pretty cool twist but does contradict the opening of The Kill Order. There she believes she also is going to get her memory wipe to go into the maze. The only way around that is she was aware they were going to wipe their memories and she thought her to, but she is loyal to WICKED so she goes with it. After Thomas is inserted she is then told of the plan that she is going in memory intact.

But enough of that!

    At last! We finally find out Thomas' real name! Stephen. When rereading Book #1 there is a clue to his name that you would not catch if you didn't know it. In the cemetery Thomas comes across the grave of a boy named Stephen. This sparks a sadness in him for an unknown reason. We know now that it is his real name.

  And I loved they gave a back story to Newt. I wasn't expecting that. He is such a tragic character! It sort of makes you feel better that at least his sister got out of all that alive!

  Ugh, Dr. Paige... she goes and kills a bunch of people to keep the trials going then bails when it comes to killing her favorite "subject". Is this the real reason she didn't let him die in the Scorch? She cared to much about him? Did they really have all they needed or was she just saying that to get them out of there. In her last letter she announces that they had failed. Is it just me or are we in need of a sequel to this?

  And good ole Teresa...the first time through I did not know how I felt about that girl... lol, still not completely sure. The Kill Order did gives us a look at her pasted that was beyond tragic. Had that shaped her to never let feelings get in the way of what WICKED told her to do? I think she cared about Thomas but they had two different takes on WICKED being good. That started the betrayal. Wicked used her for all she was worth. Actually she's another pretty tragic character in this story too.

  Now time to see how they turn this into a movie... there is so much good material in this, I don't know how they could mess it up! But look at the Hunger Games, what they did with that one was water it down to a superficial children's female super hero move and the depth of that book was what made it so special! The movie was stupid! The movie didn't even make a lot of since!

    But I'll stop raving on about the Hunger Games... I'm suppose to be talking about The Maze Runner...

   Again, don't recommend these for kids due to violence, mild language, and the topic of suicide.

The Death Cure (The Maze Runner Series)

    Here I reach the last book in The Maze Runner trilogy, The Death Cure. This is not the last book in the series though. There are two more. One I believe is the next, The Kill Order which is a Prequel but I don't know what the last book will be about. I don't like to chance a spoiler so I'm not going to look it up but I do have a copy of both waiting for me. I bought the entire set off E-bay which I talk about in my Review of The Maze Runner Book #1 and The Scorch Trials (Book #2)

SPOILERS AHEAD    ___________________________

    I had two theories on where this book was going after reading book #1 and #2 and ended up right on both! I'm glad there are more then 3 books! Many Hunger Games fans would have liked more like that as well. (won't get into that here) At this point I still don't know how I feel about some of the characters. Like Teresa... I had a feeling Thomas would end up with Brenda at the end but I didn't expect Teresa to be killed off at the end! So I'm left wondering if he could have been happy with her and would they ever get back together. I guess now to get any insight to that is to have a prequel to find out how these characters interacted with each other before going into the Maze.

    I wondered in my last blog post about Aris... he did not play a big role in this one either but I feel there is more to him and I'm wondering about Newt. He never got his memories restored so when he was begging Thomas to kill him when he was saying he had always hated Thomas did he mean since the Maze or before that. Did Newt have memories return or was he just desperate and it was a way to push Thomas, a way of breaking the emotional connection? In the end I do not believe Newt hated Thomas, the Thomas that he got to know in the Maze that is, but what about before, it made me wonder.

 And that is something I was wondering about Thomas. Did the Maze change him. "Rat Man" claimed he worked for Thomas at one point. It is made fairly clear he survived the first round of researchers... Thomas never got his memory back so we don't know exactly what he was involved with and not involved with WICKED.

    Actually, we yet know what Thomas's real name was... if that isn't his real name. We are told in Maze Runner the boys were given names of smart famous people. But everyone continues to call him "Thomas" so maybe his name is Thomas.
 
   Another thing! What is this thing at the end about the Flare being let out on purpose to control population after the Sun Flares started??? And Thomas was candidate #1 because he was so rebellious. Was the virus created to kill those who had more rebellious traits to keep a more controllable population but just ended up killing everybody... Thomas had everything going on in his head the Flare was suppose to destroy but he was immune...

Footnote: May I repeat, this book is not for kids! The Death Cure is more violent then last two! There is mild language but to me the scene with Thomas and Newt is too much for at least younger teens. Newt begs his best friend to shoot him in the head so he will not have to lose his mind with the virus and eventual Thomas does do it. I just want to make that clear for parents what is in these books as I've seen a number of places saying they are for kids... no, I would not give these to kids. Great story telling... NOT for kids.

The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials

    I remember when this book came out as a movie. I knew next to nothing about it but it caught my interest but I didn't ever get to see it. A few years latter I found this copy of The Maze Runner at a sale on books at Goodwill. I had found with The Hunger Games that picking up a book that you don't know much about but it was popular can pay off! The same day they had a hardback set of Divergent which I also bought. Also picked up a bunch of Star Wars novels that day as well! Lol, that was a good haul!

    I've been looking forward to reading this one for a while now but just haven't been in the mood to getting into it yet. I realized after buying it that is was actually a three book set (now 5 as two were published after this copy was printed) and I wished I had known that when I bought it and had looked for the other books. But as with The Hunger Games I knew if I liked it I would be able to find it somewhere, though it was a struggle with Catching Fire and Mockingjay at the time. Those did eventually end up in thrift stores where I picked up nicer hardbacks of. (The Hunger Games are still on the top of my most favorite books) I have been unable to find a hardback of the first book of The Hunger Games... did they not print many?

But back to The Maze Runner...
    Some books you can tell you are going to like it buy just reading the first page or two, some can take a little longer... this was a first pager. I went through book one pretty fast. It was pretty interesting. Good enough to prompt me to buy the other books. So I hit Ebay and they were pretty reasonable, about $9 - $14 for a set of 4 of the 5... but if you added that last book the price rose... but after a little waiting and a couple bought out from under me I found a 4 box set with the fifth book at the side for around the price of just the 4 book set. I knew this would save me undue stress in the future of having to look for that book when I got to it! (The reason when I bought Divergent I bought all three of the books, didn't want to read the first one and find I liked it and have to go finding the other two in hardback to match the first one when I could just take the chance and spend a little more and buy all of them at once)

    So, while I liked The Maze Runner Book #1 enough to buy the rest I still wasn't sure I was completely sold on it. Book #2 did it though! Wow, this author is good! I didn't do a review of The Divergent series, maybe at some point I should but there was a major flaw in it that really bugged me and that was the author. I have nothing against young authors but there is a fact that the younger you are the less you understand relationships and human behavior. The story of Divergent was very good but I feel if the author had waited to write it when she was older it could have been much better. It lacked maturity. In The Maze Runner the maturity is there and I love it!

    But that brings me to another issue I have with all of these books. These books are being sold as "Young Adult" novels... what??? With The Maze Runner when trying to buy the rest of the book I kept seeing this was for kids like in their young teens! No, I think NOT! These books are quite violent and scary and for the most part written on an adult level of understanding of the world. Not that there aren't kids on a level that could appreciate these books but labeling them for children is off. Please read what you give your kids before you let them read something. These books could give kids nightmares! I mean, The Hunger Games is basically a bunch of suicidal emotionally mess up kids running around in a war. Divergent is about a 16 year old in love with an 18 year old... which is a dangerous example for younger teenagers. I don't understand why they didn't just up the age to 18 and a 20 year old. Would not have hurt the story at all. This is a sensitive age group where a lot of mistakes are made. This book is not what they need to be reading.

    Now I get some parents will let their kids play insanity violent video games way worse then what is in these books. My opinion on this probably sounds way conservative to many but... this is my oppion and I have the right to think and say it. I think this is an issue that people really need to think about. What is this doing to kids at such a confusing time in many of their lives. An age where idolizing the wrong influence is an easy mistake to make.

With that said, lets look at the story...

    What is this book/s about? Well, that's what it is about! This boy Thomas finds himself in a world that doesn't make since. I was going to do a quick blog about book #1 before reading on to The Scorch Trials but I just couldn't think of much to say. this book is one in which you are not given much more info then the main character which is Thomas who has had his memory swiped thus remember nothing of where he comes from. Slowly things come back at times sometimes only confusing matters more.

If you have not read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trails stop reading here, you want to read these without spoilers, I feel part of the beauty of books like these are how the author reveals things to you at just the right times.

   Things I took notice of: (sorry, a little disjointed)

Spoiler Alert

At first the character of Chuck annoyed me but by the time they killed him off I didn't want to see him go. I'm curious if he was related to Chuck in some way in the days before the maze. I feel there must have been some importance to that but wow, this book jumps around.

The whole thing with Theresa during the Scorch Trails was as mind tangling for the reader as it was for Thomas! I love how Aris is hinting around to Thomas that he might not die and it is only another test. Theresa however is completely set on making him feel betrayed. I think they both did it to save him. I'm liking this Aris guy. Im sure we will be learning more about him.

    There was something satisfying about Thomas finally having enough of Theresa. But, I get what she did. It's an interesting situation. Doing something bad to someone because it is the best thing you can do for them. What would you have done? How would you have felt if you'd been Thomas? I like when books make you think like that cause this isn't just a scenario in a book. We have things like this happen in real life as well. I know I have. Not that someone tried to kill me or the other way around but to realize that something you did or they did though it felt like someone was greatly wrong was really done in the best interest... 

    One thing I noticed was when Thomas was taken by Group B he seems to think he has no way to find out how his group is doing. But he did. He never reached out to Aris because as far as Thomas knew Aris was still with the boys group. Of course we find out that Aris left Group A but Thomas didn't know that, so why didn't he try to contact him? Is this just an over sight of the author or did I miss something. When Thomas wakes in the white room he does attempt to contact Aris.

    The way the second book ends we do get an insight that Thomas does not. We get to read a letter written by the head of WICKED. It kind of hints at what I was wondering. Where these kids put through all this because in some way they are immune to the Flare or does it make them immune? Are they going to use them to create a cure? Are they going to just keep man kind going by repopulating the earth with those immune. This is about saving man kind as a whole? That letter seemed to hint at something like that. But these books tend to throw you in all kinds of directions... is WICKED really GOOD?