The Scorch Trials (2015) review

The Scorch Trials is the sequel of The Maze Runner trilogy. It still follows the journey of Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his fellow ex-gladers after they left the Maze. 

Please note that I haven't read the novels, so everything written here is based on my opinion about the movie only. (Although tbh I read the book plot on Wiki and it looks quite different from the movie??? Idk)

---SPOILER ALERT---

Sooo, I missed the first 10 minutes or so of this movie, sadly, so I'm kinda lost on how this movie started. When we last left The Maze Runner, Thomas and some other gladers were being rescued from the WICKED facility after they escaped the Maze. Skip to the part when I start watching, Thomas and the others except Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) were in a some sort of a facility with a bunch of other kids, and this guy,

Yes. Janson (Aidan Gillen) a.k.a Littlefinger from Game Of Thrones. He is the one in charge there and it seems that Thomas doesn't like him (not that I would blame Thomas bcs look at his smug face). Long story short, Thomas finds out about the bad things going on in that facility and manages to convince his group to leave the place. 

Now, this trilogy is called The Maze Runner, so of course it involves a lot of running. Like, almost half of the movie is spent with these guys running away from something. Even just watching them is exhausting enough for me. Also, Thomas has this tendency to be very "explosive" and he kinda likes to run through a very limited space gap, like, why you gotta make your life harder than it already is, bruh???

So they run away, against sand storm, a seemingly never ending desert, lightning storm, WICKED soldiers, ruined city, another group of survivors with questionable motive, and last but not least, zombie-like creatures which are actually the victims of flare disease, also they can run and climb quickly just like the zombies from World War Z. That last thing genuinely surprised me bcs I did not expect in the slightest that the flare victims will be depicted like zombies but it totally adds to the element of surprise and suspense of this movie so, well done.

A few other surprises including the fact that Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) the doctor and the head of this trial program in WICKED is still alive and still a boss, there are new cool characters, like Brenda (Rosa Salazar) a bad ass girl with guns, a group of army called Right Arm who is against WICKED and audiences are given a short story about Thomas' history before his memory was wiped. It didn't explain everything, but it gave us an idea about WICKED and Thomas and how they're related and what happened in general.

Oh and Teresa kinda betrays them, so, yeah. 

---SPOILER ENDS---

A few thoughts about The Scorch Trials:

• Minho (Ki Hong Lee) definitely went through a lot. He knee-bashed a WICKED soldier, got struck by lightning, and finally got electrocuted and caught by WICKED :( Poor Minho. And this is a personal opinion but I like his character a lot more than hot-headed Thomas. 

• There're excessive usage of "Go!" "Let's go!!" and "Come on!" all throughout the movie. Too much, perhaps.

• I like how the lighting works in The Scorch Trials. It works really well in the bright scenes, and equally nice in the dark scenes

• Something that bugs me a little is the plotline, actually. Like, it moves fast, lots of stuff happen at the same time and yet, it feels like nothing is accomplished. At the end, Thomas and the gang decides to go back and fight WICKED and it feels like they're going back to square one. Unlike, say, in The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss' main goal is to bring down President Snow, and in each installment, there's a progress in the plot. But The Scorch Trials, it's just missing something and I can't really put my fingers on what it is actually 

I give The Scorch Trials 3.5/5 noise. It's action-packed, intense and shocking at times, it'll keep you on the edge of your seat, and it's definitely enjoyable. However, if we compare it to similar YA fiction movies, I'm not sure The Scorch Trials will be that memorable after a while. 

The Fault In Our Stars (2014) review

The Fault in Our Stars a.k.a TFIOS is a movie based on a young adult novel with the same title written by John Green. I FINALLY HAD THE CHANCE TO WATCH IT. It's romance, which is not my usual favorite type of movie/book, but this one is special, I guess.

I will start with the book first, okay? Okay. (See what I did here?)

I read TFIOS a while ago simply because it's very popular on the internet. And it turns out that I really like it. Yes, the plot is kind of typical romance, but not as cheesy as Nicholas Sparks' books. But what I really like is John Green's writing style. Especially I like his choices of words and quotes. How to describe it huh? Powerful? Idk, but they stuck with you even after you finished reading it. In my opinion, the plot is not that strong, but the characters and the wordings are awesome.

So, with great novel comes great expectations for the movie, right? Yeah I was excited about TFIOS movie. But to be honest, after I watched it, I don't feel the strength of the story, the appeal, as much as when I read the book. Maybe, maybe, it's because, again, the plot is basically standard. Maybe that's what made the movie feel kinda flat, boring, with no intense peak, except perhaps at the twist. 

As for the quotes, thank you writers for putting most of the great quotes in the movie. However, to me there's a difference between reading them and hearing them being said. You see, when the characters said the quotes in the movie, it's like those words just passed through you. But when you read it, it's like you can process it in your brain and you can find the beauty of it. For example, one of my most favorite line in the book, 

“The world," he said, "is not a wish-granting factory.” 

Gus said it after he told Hazel about his cancer returning. That's some painful bitter truth right there but it didn't get enough appreciation because, well, it only took maybe 2 seconds to say that line. 

Really, read the novel. Way more beautiful than the movie. 

Enough about the things I don't like. I love some aspects of TFIOS movie. One, the way Ansel Elgort portrayed Augustus Waters. He got it. He totally got it. He understood that Gus was one cocky, pretentious dude and Ansel did it justice. Gus always wanted to be a hero, to leave something important so everyone will remember him after he died, and Hazel knocked some sense into him that being important for one other person is enough. 

I didn't expect to enjoy Shailene Woodley's portrayal of Hazel Grace, but I did. The cynical, realist girl with cancer, who found happiness in her bitter life from Gus. I like the way she portrayed the love Hazel felt for Gus. It's not over the top like usual teenagers movie. It fits perfectly with the characterization of Hazel Grace. Well done, you two.

Fun things I'd like to add. It's pretty clear since the beginning about Gus' fate. It's obvious that he's gonna die at the end. Some clues:

• Gus insisted to call Hazel with her long name, Hazel Grace. Maybe this is some kind of a "powerful" metaphor to him. You see, Gus likes metaphors and symbols and stuffs. When Hazel started calling him Gus instead of Augustus, there's a quote in the book where he said “You used," he said, and then took a sharp breath, "to call me Augustus.” 

• Gus said “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.” We all know there's no such thing as a roller coaster that only goes up. At some point, it'll go down. And for Gus, it went down the day he discovered that his cancer is coming back and he "lit up like a christmas tree".

• Anne Frank's house is the set where Gus and Hazel kissed for the first time. Anne Frank died not long before the war ended. She was so close to surviving the war but she didn't make it. It's almost the same with Gus, he survived without cancer for months, but then things go unplanned. Damn you John Green. 

One more thing I like is the music. It fits the movie tone really well and it's beautiful.

I give The Fault in Our Stars movie 3.5/5 noise. I love that it stays true to the book, the quotes, the characters and everything. But perhaps for those who haven't read the book, plot-wise it's flat. Also I don't really enjoy the camera work, but I honestly can't pinpoint why. But still, thank you John Green for a beautiful pain that is TFIOS.