I have to be quite frank questioning what happened to the characters in the first two movies because the YA adaptation genre is dead in the water unless another Harry Potter or maybe Hunger Games movie will be made. However, I guess I am jumping into the review here now because I find this franchise to be a bit forgettable in spite of the well-made and well-choreographed action sequences. I found the conclusion to be my favorite movie of the series whereas there are stakes but ultimately, I did not care about its main characters.
Thomas, Newt and Frypan (Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dexter Darden) are the last of the "Gladers" immune to the Flare virus that has wiped out most of the world's population. They try to save Glader Minho (Ki Hong Lee), who is on board of a WKCD transport train. They take the wrong cargo as Minho is taken to the "Last City", its base of operations. In the WKCD headquarters, they test Minho's blood, created into a serum, to test onto a Flare-infected girl, which is a failure. Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) is frustrated following her betrayal to Thomas and the others.
The group make it to the edge of the wall of the Last City, which surrounded and protects from the city from Cranks. In the commotion among the infected, Thomas, Newt, Frypan, Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) are taken by a group of masked men and are taken to a hideout, where one of the masked men is revealed to be Gally (Will Poulter), who is alive. They are taken to the Last City with Lawrence's (Walton Goggins) permission as they still try to find the cure.
Eh...here is my main problem. I find the production and the set-up to the narrative quite solid in addition to the action sequences, which impressed me and I was having fun. But, the characters were not of interest and the narrative were muddled, unsatisfying and bloated. Even though I like Dylan O'Brian and Kaya Scodelario as actors, they play bland characters that have not much character development, especially here. Scodelario's character has nothing much to do here except be behind-the-scenes of the action sequences and the plot. They left her on the side. Plus, after the action sequences are done and the story has concluded, the movie has one too many endings.
The supporting players are quite good with Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt, who has the most interesting development in this movie, Dexter Darden, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aiden Gillan, Barry Pepper, Will Poulter, Patricia Clarkson. But, of course, they try to put so much effort in putting the suspense on the main players and not much happens. However, if you switch the Hunger Games characters into this series, it could have been memorable. Director Wes Ball shows a lot of promise in this series and I can't wait to see what he can do with an original action movie because he can shoot action real well. However, I'm hoping that he finds better characters, a better script along with the craft. It's a cable watch at best. Hey, I've seen worse young-adult movies than this.
**1/2
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