'Maze Runner: The Death Cure' Review

I'm well aware of that this review is ridiculously late, but I figured it would be worth it for me to share my thoughts regardless. I saw Maze Runner: The Death Cure two Saturdays ago, but I've neglected to write anything about it because I was working on a few other posts that demanded a higher priority of attention. For those curious, I'm seeing Black Panther tonight and will quickly get to work on uploading a review before I go out of town for the weekend. 

'Maze Runner: The Death Cure' Review

In Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers to save their friends in a daring rescue. To do so, they'll have to break into WCKD's seemingly impenetrable base of operations known as the Last City. Meanwhile the organization desperately searches for a cure for the Flare virus inside the city's heavily fortified walls.

The Death Cure functions as a final farewell to both the Maze Runner series and America's fleeting love affair with the dystopian young-adult genre. In 2012, the success of The Hunger Games lead Hollywood to rampantly adapt other dystopian YA book series to the big screen. This YA craze brought us a few film franchises (Maze Runner, Divergent), but Hollywood soon learned their lesson when Allegiant flopped and caused the final flick in the Divergent series to be banished to the realm of television where it'd never be made... With all this being said, I commend 20th Century Fox and Wes Ball for sticking it out and finishing what they started with The Maze Runner and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, but I'm even more impressed that they didn't follow that obnoxious trend of splitting the final book into two parts!

While I didn't read any of the Maze Runner books, I enjoyed the first film for what it was and felt the franchise had a lot of potential till I was tremendously disappointed by The Scorch Trials... Therefore, I didn't know what to expect with this third entry, seeing as the first had an intriguing premise which essentially married Lord of the Flies with a dystopian setting and abundant instances of exciting action while the sequel squandered all that with a story that hopelessly meandered once the characters made it out of the maze. My biggest gripe with the previous two installments though was that they each ended with lingering, unanswered questions. However, I'm unsure whether this complaint should be levied against the respective movies or the source material itself since I never read the books. Nevertheless, I had hopes The Death Cure would tie up these loose ends, and screenwriter T.S. Nowlin seems to have made it a priority to resolve just about every character and story arc that had previously been introduced.

However, this brings about another problem all together. The issue being that the story is simply overcrowded with dangling plot threads (new and old), which in turn meant that quite a few of their respective resolutions were half-baked in execution. There's also an odd sense of importance placed on wrapping everything up, to the extent that the most important arcs don't really receive their proper due and I felt rather apathetic about the whole thing. Maybe this all worked much better in the book, but a sound send-off was lost in the translation to the big screen.

On that note, it's perplexing that the finale depends on a relationship between two characters that it hardly touched on previously. Although there were certainly inklings of a romantic connection between Thomas and Teresa, the shared history between these characters was a little unclear and wishy-washy because of their amnesia. Yet Nowlin and Ball expect audiences to take a leap of faith and invest themselves in a relationship where most of the interaction between love interests occurred off-screen, which is an even heftier task because the leads lack a convincing chemistry and their characters are fairly flat. Notwithstanding a lifeless love affair, Dylan O'Brien and Kaya Scodelario are quite committed on their own. The romance fails more on account of the inadequate set-up than because of the two actors. 

With that being said, it's such a shame that there's an IMMENSELY entertaining action film trapped inside the confines of an unnecessarily, overcomplicated story structure. If the preceding chapters of the series demonstrated anything, it was that Wes Ball is well-capable of delivering on all the riveting action you could possibly ask for. Sadly this came at the expense of a serious on-set injury for O'Brien that delayed the film's release an entire year, but I can foresee Ball shepherding a solid action franchise if he had a more established screenwriter working alongside him. 

In regards to the sprawling ensemble, everyone brings a quality performance to the table based on what they're given to work with. Front and center in the role of Thomas, O'Brien makes for a solid action star so it's a shame to see his talent go to waste starring in mediocre action movies rather than leading higher-callibur projects. Scodelario is also sufficient as Teresa and equally deserving of better work. Filling out the supporting roles is an interesting mixture of youthful actors and recognizable veterans including the likes of Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Dexter Darden, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Patricia Clarkson, Barry Pepper, and Walton Goggins.

I'd say that Maze Runner: The Death Cure is comparable to a sprinter trying to run a marathon. While The Death Cure starts off strong, it doesn't have the stamina to entertain and invest audiences for two and half hours. Even though the senseless spectacle can certainly be enjoyable in the moment, The Death Cure lost most of its momentum two hours in and is fairly forgettable afterwards. Too bad Wes Ball wasn't able to offer audiences a remedy for that...

Film Assessment: C+

'American Assassin' Review

[This review was originally written in October 2017 and is now being published to coincide with the digital home media release. For an explanation of this, visit my Fall 2017 Important Update post.] 

American Assassin follows the response of Mitch Rapp after his fiancé dies in a terrorist attack. Rapp then takes it upon himself to become a highly skilled combatant so that he may seek justice. In the midst of his revenge plot, Rapp catches the attention of the CIA so he's recruited to train underneath the grizzled Cold War veteran Stan Hurley and help prevent the outbreak of a widespread global catastrophe. 

Now if you thought that plot synopsis sounded like the plot of almost every action movie out there, you'd be forgiven because you're certainly correct, because American Assassin is as average an action movie can come these days. Michael Cuesta, who previously dabbled in the realm of television, directs the film and his lack of experience comes across quite quickly in his attempt to adapt Vince Flynn's novel as it feels like an extended episode of a mediocre television series. I haven't read the novel, so I'm unsure if the problem lies there or in the screenplay penned by Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Wick, and Marshall Herskovitz, but American Assassin repetitively succumbs to tired tropes of the action genre. Whether it be nuclear warheads being launched or the typical training montage, American Assassin leaves no stone unturned. 

However, on occasion American Assassin definitely defied convention and was at its best when carving out a unique identity for itself. Unfortunately, the script is still spotty with undistinguished dialogue and predictable twists and turns. The action itself is actually well-shot and choreographed though, which somewhat makes up for the standard story.

Thankfully, the film's lead by Dylan O'Brien so not all is so-so. O'Brien seems as committed as any other action star is these days, and really shines in making Rapp a likable lead. Alongside him, Shiva Negar made a fairly adequate action debut as fellow agent Annika, and I can see her possibly getting more work based on this performance.

However, it's Michael Keaton who walks away MVP. An actor of his caliber simply never turns in a passable performance, and Keaton really shines in one engrossing torture sequence that really evoked the expressive attitude of his iconic "Now you wanna get nuts? Come on! Let's get nuts." line from Batman (1989).

Sanaaa Lathan on the other hand feels especially bland as CIA director Irene Kennedy. There's just not much of substance to her character worth noting, and Lathan doesn't add any particularly interesting layers to her performance. She's the straight-faced government agency head you've seen a thousand times before.

Lastly, Taylor Kitsch does his best to invoke menace out of the villainous Ghost, but the character's murky motivations and limited backstory only cripple his every effort.

There's no avoiding it, no matter how potent it is, American Assassin just couldn't hit its target.

Film Assessment: C+

'Deepwater Horizon' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing.

Deepwater Horizon offers personal insight into the true events of the April 2010 oil rig explosion that caused the largest oil spill in history by showing the horrific disaster through the eyes of the workers onboard. 

Peter Berg directs the disaster flick as his followup to Lone Survivor and Berg expertly captures the chaotic nature of the explosions onboard the Deepwater Horizon in the more action packed moments. However, the framework established in the screenplay penned by Matthew Michael Canahan and Matthew Sand doesn't quite set the stage properly. I found the first half to be rather mundane and generic and wished the characters had been further explored. I found it difficult to care for the supporting characters given how little character development and meaningful screen time they had received but I guess that's the nature of things when you have to dedicate a large portion of the film's running time to the catastrophe at hand. 

Deepwater Horizon does however succeed in effectively simplifying the concepts behind the disaster in addition to making the oil rig a tense environment from the get-go. I also feel it's worth commending all the effects, albeit practical or computer generated, that went into simulating the tragedy on film as the explosions weren't overdone and felt authentic. The performances on display for the most part were serviceable considering that the actors were essentially portraying ordinary oil workers and aren't exactly provided with plenty of depth or range to explore. 

Of the bunch, Mark Wahlberg demonstrates incredible display of acting ability with one of the film's closing scenes that seemingly shows the PTSD Mike Williams is suffering from as a result of these events. Wahlberg injects his typical charm into the role and makes Williams both a likable and relatable protagonist fulfilling the needs of the role. Kate Hudson impressed me, making for an interesting ancillary character in the role of Felicia Williams and sharing great chemistry opposite Wahlberg. 

In regards to the other supporting players, Kurt Russell musters up some Southern drawl in Jimmy Harrell, Dylan O'Brien sadly has little to do as Caleb Holloway but is great in his supporting capacity, Gina Rodriguez's Andrea Fleets barely registered to me when onscreen, and John Malkovich is about as slimy as it gets as the greedy corporate businessman Vidrine. 

In conclusion, Peter Berg manages to craft an intense disaster thriller that seeps into the viewers' mind and leaves a lasting impression thanks to some sufficient performances and appropriately terrifying sequences of destruction.

Film Assessment: C+

'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' Review

After thoroughly enjoying The Maze Runner, I had high expectations for its sequel and must say Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials didn't quite live up to its predecessor. The Scorch Trials is certainly as action packed, features quality perforamnces, and the cinematography is stunning at times, but there are a few problems with the latest installment.

First off, the film didn't really resolve any questions it left audiences with at the end of The Maze Runner. Instead, it asked even more questions. While I wasn't too bothered by this in the first film since I suspected my questions would eventually be resolved and I liked the sense of mystery, I didn't want that carried over to the sequel.

Director Wes Ball also tried a little too hard to create suspense and while he succeeded a few times, it grew excessive. In a few scenes they tried to draw out suspense and it just didn't quite work for me as it wasn't a surprise to have one of the cranks chase them for example. So the film also was kinda predictable in some moments and I felt that the ending could have been adjusted for a better cliffhanger by cutting out about five minutes. On top of that, The Scorch Trials lacked any drama aside from the mystery as to what was going on, and that's about all I have in terms of nitpicks.

The cinematography was especially gorgeous when characters were in the Scorch as some interesting camera effects enhanced the experience. I felt the visual effects looked great and the fast-paced action sequences were entertaining. One of the most enjoyable aspects was watching the actors run with such intensity. Dylan O'Brien, in particular, has an especially energetic run that's well-captured on camera, like Tom Cruise. As for the cast, Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scoderlario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, and Giancarlo Esposito all provided great performances.

I'd say the film was entertaining, but lacked the substance I was hoping for. If you were a fan of The Maze Runner then you should enjoy The Scorch Trials, but I personally prefer the first film. I am especially excited for the final installment because it's rumored not to be split into two films as commonly done with the adaptation of a final book of a series.

Film Assessment: C-