The Reel Rejects - MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS (2015) MOVIE REVIEW – GLADERS TAKE ON THE CRANKS – FIRST TIME WATCH

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Starting point is 00:01:18 Without further ado, to the Scarts Trials. Mace. Mace running. We have room to play today. There's four people. Yes. Let's get it. All right.

Starting point is 00:01:33 I did. All righty, you guys. You can start the housekeeping while we let this run in case there's More shit to maze run. We can start the freaking house. Keeping you guys, we've just gone through the maze trials, the scorch trials, hot diggedy-deging dang. That was a really fun one. Well, before we get into our review and our thoughts, we've got some things to talk about.

Starting point is 00:01:59 First off, if we listen to us on Apple or Spotify, Merck show you a go and give us five freaking stars also. If you're watching this on YouTube, make sure to go like. subscribe and what, Tara? Ring the bell. Ring the bell. So you can get notified when new videos are coming out. Also, I don't know if you'll have you noticed.

Starting point is 00:02:16 Oh, oh, oh, oh. We got shirts on. You can get those over at rejignation shop.com. Also, if you want to get the full-length watch-along version of this, you can go on over to Patreon and Greg and John do exclusive over there. Do. Excluses, juicy exclusies

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Starting point is 00:02:52 It's a good old time. And we got some today, I believe. But before we get into those questions, let's get into our personal thoughts. Oh. Going into this movie, coming out of this movie. Oh. Getting to our feelings. Let's start with a Tara.

Starting point is 00:03:05 Oh. Hey, surprise. The number. one major. I really like this film. I love the way it was directed. I really liked the way that they played with like the lighting. It was so cinematic, not overdone.

Starting point is 00:03:20 And all of the actors obviously really, really believable, hit it home. I think they did a great job casting. But I think my favorite parts were the action scenes. The way that they directed those always kept the camera moving, which kept the pacing up, which is really smart. Even when it wasn't moving, the shots they were. None of them were boring. They were all great. I loved it.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Great times. Heck you know. Great times. All right. It's going over to Andrew. Hey, yeah, I enjoyed this film. It was a fascinating contrast from the first film where we're really contained to one location. And the first film really hinged on more of a mysterious side to it, whereas this film is more of a post-apocalyptic action adventure with zombies in it.

Starting point is 00:04:03 So I thought that was very fascinating and contrasted enough. but I still like really was so interested in Dylan, Dylan O'Brien. Conan O'Brien. Conan O'Brien. He just does such a great job, really being the emotional groundedness of the film. And I still thought they did a great job, especially in the first 10, 15, 20 minutes of seeing the consequences and the ramifications of how hardened he is from and saddened from what happened with Chuck. You can still feel that. and he just does a great job viscerally with his face and his facial reactions,

Starting point is 00:04:42 just feeling that pain. And also, I just love how resourceful of a character he is. And also seeing how compassion he is, how he will, how everyone around him is truly a family member and he does not want to leave anyone behind. And you also feel that in the ending as well, because he is literally going on a mission that seems hopeless, but he's not going to allow it to be hopeless because he's going to do whatever it takes. and I love a character who is so resilient like he is

Starting point is 00:05:11 and it's a character that I love following that type of journey but yeah that's a very fascinating storyline and I'm very curious too especially with Wicked like what they would do with a cure like would they use it for nefarious purposes or they actually want to do good with it and then you have on that with Teresa I didn't like what she did obviously with betraying

Starting point is 00:05:36 them but I think they did a good job of at least giving us perspective of why she did it, having that personal side of what happened with her mother. So I thought that was an interesting angle to take at it while most of the audience is going to be pissed off at her naturally, you know, at least giving some perspective on the matter. So yeah. And Johnny Boy. Oh my goodness. Me? See, signor. Well, I enjoyed the maze runner too quite a bit. I'm not, it's tricky i think in some ways i maybe prefer the just tone and flavor of the first movie in the breathing room that that movie had it was much more of a sort of slowly unfolding mystery with a lot of thrillery action elements as i remember it uh and you know you have all your sci-fi dystopian

Starting point is 00:06:26 stuff but you know a lot of the charm of that movie is being like what is this and why and uh this sequel, you know, certainly expounds on that in a way that is fun and interesting. It did remind me of kind of a smorgasbord of a lot of different other things. Not that that's always bad. And I thought that this did all of that, all that tropery of, you know, the young adult sci-fi dystopian story. It did that with a lot of spirit. You know, it seems like everybody really showed up for this. So, you know, there are certain things that aren't quite as developed, especially in the character department as the first movie because this movie is moving way faster and it's doing a whole bunch of stuff. And I did appreciate that they kind of went for what feels like an opposite approach where,

Starting point is 00:07:12 yeah, instead of this like, you know, long gestating thriller mystery, you kind of have now this frantic sci-fi future war zone scenario where you just got to keep moving from one place to the next and just creating distance between you and Wicked and there's cranks and, creature you know we pretty much switch wholesale away from grievers in this movie to cranks which is cool uh you know it would have been maybe neat if there had been like some griever presence also just because this movie kind of fell in danger to me of like kind of losing some of the distinction with itself but never fully uh and by and large i thought that while you know i've seen a lot of this kind of movie and you know it's not always making choices that are super unique uh i do still you know find

Starting point is 00:08:07 the appeal in this world tangible and i do really like the ensemble like the cast and the art design and the set designs and the digital effects and just the punch of the direction the cinematography like everyone's really showing up to this and elevating the script which you know again is is working a lot harder to do a bunch of things this time so that's fine you know know, and it still makes for a lot of fun moments. I think the first movie had more like character-based heart. But I did appreciate Dylan O'Brien, you know, at the center of this especially, just anchoring everything with this righteous fury and this, I don't know, he does feel like a Tom Cruise kind of guy, but with that appropriate, like, young adult, I am burdened with the trauma and purpose of being the special. So, yeah, I thought this was pretty good.

Starting point is 00:08:58 And it made me want to see another one. You know, I was like this, coming in any of these YA movies, I'm like, this could go either way. I remember the first movie kind of grabbing me more than I expected. And this movie, while maybe not quite as unique feeling, was like doing so much and with such energy, especially in the action that I was very charmed. Yeah, yeah. It's funny, you know, it's four of us. We had an array of feelings and opinion. I feel like we're falling large on the positive.

Starting point is 00:09:24 I would say my experience falls closer to John's experience. to the movie. I think it was very fun. I think it was very action-packed and it was very frenetically paced. Though I feel like some of the substance of the character department was a little lacking for me. I feel like it was entertaining, like never stopped being entertaining. And I feel like the performances of the actors, you can tell how much they care for each other, how a bunch of characters really have bonded. You definitely feel that camaraderie in the performance. And And I feel like that performance side isn't necessarily as equal or comparable on the writing side. I feel like I would like to understand these people better.

Starting point is 00:10:10 I don't really have a full grasp of why Thomas loves Teresa. I don't really find her to be an interesting character. Not in this one. Or the last one. Didn't get to know her a great deal in the first one. I want to like to her presence felt very kind of caught up in a whole bunch of other shit and then Rosa Salazar comes in then you have like a different ostensible female lead for a while yeah and I think I prefer even though I don't know we don't know a ton about um Rosa Salazar I feel like the

Starting point is 00:10:44 little we do know and just her presence makes her more appealing a counterpart to to Dylan or Bryan's Thomas character. And, yeah, it's, I think it's overall a very entertaining film. I think I was never bored or never, like, disinterested. I think the way that the set pieces all were unfolding created a very visual experience that provided, yeah, some just, some just awesome moments. But yeah, this is kind of a smorgasbord of different, like, sci-fi things. even if some of the things within the the familiar waters they were recovering came after the fact.

Starting point is 00:11:28 But I feel like like stories have been told since the beginning of time. I think it's all about not the fact that you are doing things that are familiar, but how do you put your unique spin on them? And I felt like some of the stuff didn't necessarily speak out in the most unique sense, but was still capturing the immediacy of the danger. putting these characters in and I was impressed with how much they were able to fit in and how much trial and tribulation these characters were able to go through over the course of this two hour and eleven minute movie um so it was very well paced in that regard yeah I hope we do get to have some slower moments some more character establishing moments the one with uh brand and thomas in the tent was one of my favorite ones it was one of the few moments we got to slow down

Starting point is 00:12:13 and get to spend time with them but I wish scenes too let's get another we Inawaska. Yeah, that was fun. That was fun. But yeah, and I feel like, and maybe you guys can feel free to disagree with me on this, but I feel like a scene where the guy dies earlier in the movie, I really didn't feel anything because I feel like we didn't really get to know we're spending time with him. Yeah, Winston.

Starting point is 00:12:36 And yeah, because we just haven't really gotten to spend a lot of time in the highs of their relationship. Because I think you've got to allow your characters to have highs in times of peace to then really feel something in times of low. And I feel like our characters never really got enough chance to breathe to really allow us to soak in the good so we can dread the bad. There's very little levity. There's very little like breaking for people to like crack a smile, especially for Dylan

Starting point is 00:13:03 O'Brien. And on the one hand, I appreciate the amount of like commitment he's bringing. On the other hand, especially in these movies, like the whole, I'm so burdened with this purpose. Like it kind of gets constricting sometimes. So I'm like, I, you know, it would be nice. to add some human dimensions not to turn him into a clown

Starting point is 00:13:20 but like you know just like moments of levity to take a break from all this horribleness and I guess the only other criticism or complaint I might levy is like I would as long as we're here it would be nice to unpack

Starting point is 00:13:35 this whole cure debate a little more because like yeah because Wicked is like they're just really bad at helping their own case yeah they want to heal the world I'm like you're trying to make a cure which is like something we all

Starting point is 00:13:47 theoretically should be on board for is just you guys do things in the most sinister way pot your name's fucking wicked yeah that's what i was like someone along the line had to have been like hang on a minute like and the fact that yeah it's like we're doing all these things and we're snatching up these kids and we're creating these fake you know like havens for people that are really just funnels like it seems like it wants to say something interesting about the shadowy nature of pharmaceutical companies and and this kind of medical research. But, yeah, and you get these pockets where like, oh, they get to the actual right arm camp, and they also are doing a version of this that seems more humane and less shitty, but by and large,

Starting point is 00:14:27 kind of the same. And also, yeah, and I feel like we've, there's like, they're so mysterious, which is why I was thinking, like, oh, maybe this is not what we think it is as far as their malevolence, because we know so little about them. We know that they want to make a cure, and seemingly they're doing it in the worst way possible. but for some reason they're also like harvesting and creating like trump monsters like i get why dylan o'brien is like no anti-frikin wicked at all costs but at the same time i'm like we i think we should all talk about this a little bit yeah there's like there's something because yeah i don't know i'm like and it seems like there's part of the

Starting point is 00:15:06 reason that he and teresa are so drawn together has to be because of the ideological crossroads that they're at And I know that he has all these personal reasons because of how he was tied up in there and get a lot of the personal side. But the fact that he is never ever sort of like, well, I guess we should talk about this cure situation. It's like a little frustrating. Yeah, but also it seemed like from the jump, there's two things that are conflicting for me. One and why Teresa got thrown into the maze in the first place if she was never against wicked. Because once she got all her memories back, she's like, oh yeah, wicked is the right way. Wicked is wicked.

Starting point is 00:15:42 We look, wicked is wicked. Exactly. So I'm just like, all right. Maybe there's more. We'll find out on the third movie. Obviously, this is a trilogy. We're going to find out. So there's a lot more answers to be uncovered.

Starting point is 00:15:53 But I'm just talking about from this point of where we are in the in the films. But another thing is that I don't know. I feel like we just don't know enough. And I feel like, yeah, with Dylan O'Brien's character, we should, I would like to unpack more about him. And just all the guys in general, like, yeah, I just think we needed some room to allow them to be young adults and have moments where we got to revel in their personalities and why they're different and whatnot. I feel like, too, a lot of the characters that we fell in love with in the first film, we didn't get to spend a ton of time with him, like Meno and with Newt. So they got chaffed a little bit in this film. And there wasn't one courtroom scene.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I know Tara was looking out for that. I'm curious though if if Wicked does acquire a cure, like, what are, are they actually going to cure the world? Are they going to use it for nefarious purposes? Like, just because they've been so shady up to this point, that's the thing. I have no idea. You know what I mean? Yeah, I have no idea either. But let's see if the fans have any idea as we get into the couple of fan questions we do have today.

Starting point is 00:17:11 So I'm going to volunteer John to read for us. Oh, all right. All right. Here we go. Thank you, John. Reject, gang, I have been thinking an awful lot lately about what does health truly mean for me. I don't just mean aesthetically because last year I made this whole big ordeal about like dropping 50 pounds because I just wanted to try to get those photos for the first time ever in my life. I did it.

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Starting point is 00:19:23 Jaden Rhodes, thank you for chiming in. Thanks, Jade. Thank you for being part of our little Glade crew. I do prefer the first movie, says Jaden, but I love the setting of this one. I think it brings new to, it brings new. It brings new life to these movies. And I think it's one of the better teen dystopian movies. I'm curious if y'all agree.

Starting point is 00:19:43 Yeah, I do appreciate the mystery box of the first movie and how, yeah, it's just a unique setting. There's a lot of questions that immediately puts us in Thomas's POV. Yeah. We just know that he's this brave guy, even though he doesn't have all the answers. He's willing to break past the walls, the literal walls of the obstacle in front of them where all these other kids feel safe within the conference. finds other prison they found themselves in despite not knowing anything else and him rallying the troops and inspiring them to be brave inspiring them to challenge the status quo

Starting point is 00:20:16 established by the people running the what was it the glade that were in that they were in yeah yeah challenging the status quo of the glade and i i really liked that and this one just always kind of has them on their their back foot not really giving us a ton of insight into these characters but just throwing us into whatever situation we've had them in um but yeah I think the first one has a stronger premise, but I feel like this one is extremely entertaining. Yeah, I do love the setting for sure in this and the action sequences and what is it, the cranks?

Starting point is 00:20:47 That was all really good, but I really love, was it the Cleavers. Grevers, yeah. The Grievers, that was very unique and added a lot of attention as well in suspense, but I also like you. I love the mysterious side of the first film, but I love that the first film

Starting point is 00:21:04 does not hold you. your hand at all. Yeah. Really is a slow burn and just really takes its time very methodically. So I thought the first film just did a great job with that and really good job world building, establishing stakes and building the rules to what the glade and everything else was. And just until you get to the very end, just having no idea what the hell is going on, really putting you in the POV of all these characters that are in the glade. So I really, I still enjoyed this one. It's still very entertaining, the frenetic pacing and all that, but the first film.

Starting point is 00:21:35 for me for sure. Ta-da. Yeah, I do agree with you. There is a juxtaposition between the first one and this one. And the first one, we get sun, we get grass, we get trees. It's sort of like our own paradise in the glade.

Starting point is 00:21:47 This one, the setting, is more realistic. It's darker. We start, obviously, in that what seems like a prison, which we get thrown out to a realistic, you know, in the desert, which is also just another prison for them. So I think both sides give us this dystopian nature, except in the first movie, it made it feel somewhat safer

Starting point is 00:22:07 until we get in that maze with the grievers. But it's really only in between two locations. And a lot of people are like, if they don't want to be a runner, they don't have to go. They still are living sort of in this somewhat paradise of a land, even though it's a bit odd.

Starting point is 00:22:21 So I do like that we got this setting where it's like graffiti and realistic and we're fighting through real world elements and weather. And they're having to operate to find the, what was it, the right arm? It was the right arm. Not the left arm.

Starting point is 00:22:37 Yeah. To find the right arm. And I like seeing them in a real world environment and fighting against that because when you look at them, they were kind of like babies locked in this little thing. And now we have to let them loose to kind of follow their moral compass. Like what's the right thing to do? Teresa goes one way. They go the other. And then we'll see.

Starting point is 00:23:00 Yeah. I thought this was fun and engaging. And yeah, I would agree. I like the expansion on the map especially and the different this does fall into that trap of like all right there's this guy Marcus

Starting point is 00:23:12 and then we're going to say his name a lot and then eventually we're going to meet him and then Marcus is going to tell us a different guy's name and then we're going to say that guy's name with a lot of gravitas until we find that guy and it's a character actor so yeah like I I liked the physical expansion

Starting point is 00:23:27 this movie brought us. It was very visceral it was very intense I could imagine for some viewers this installment, maybe being a little too heavy in terms of just like the tone is very heavy. Um, not necessarily for me though. Um, yeah, I mean, I, I, I am with all of you guys. Like, I prefer the tones of the first movie and having more stuff to wonder about because I think wondering about it has been a stronger experience than like actually sitting in the facts of what we do know. And there's still some stuff still to be dispelled. But I, I, I wish this

Starting point is 00:23:58 movie used its themes better. But yeah, in terms of like a teen dystopian movie, this had so much chutzpah as they would say it's just like everyone's throwing down and dylan o'brien's putting his all into it and everyone you know is bringing their a game on the acting side there are a lot of roles that call for actors who can just immediately bring their stature and that's the characterization and it works uh so yeah i think the first film is just better all around in terms of like it breathes more and there's more tonal contrast but where that you know was the case for the first movie this made up with yeah like a whole bunch of different environments and at first when we were just in that like bunker thing

Starting point is 00:24:37 with Aiden Gill and I was like oh this is kind of feeling small by comparison but then once we got out of there we went to a whole bunch of different places and saw a bunch of different stuff and that by and large was pretty fun so yeah like there are more things I would gripe about with this movie but yeah I had a good time and it made me want to watch a third one and yeah it's got a lot of moxie for its teen dystopian and seeing the intensity and tenacity of tenacity of someone who's got such an ideological difference to someone like Will Polter to Dylan O'Brien,

Starting point is 00:25:08 the entire film like that. I mean, you didn't like what he was doing, but you understood, again, perspective and why he was doing, because he felt so safe in where they were and didn't want to disrupt the glade, right, and where they were. So I'm like, I appreciated that character, even though I didn't like him per se. Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate you, Jaden. Leave us your thoughts down below anybody. who made it to this point in the video,

Starting point is 00:25:33 just about how you feel about the first movie versus this one, how it occupies the teen dystopian space. Jay Rushden, closing us out. Question, what shop do you enter in the abandoned shopping mall? Spencer's or Wettles Pretzels, one of the two. Okay.

Starting point is 00:25:50 All right, not bad. I think for me, it's obviously almonds. That's the only sign I saw, and I'm going to go off the movie because I'm going to be realistic, Jay. Okay. Whatever the canned foods and water is that's where I'm trying to stay

Starting point is 00:26:03 because there's no electricity but that stuff lasts for a long time okay okay how about I don't know man so many great places in a mall what if it's a mall with a movie theater perfect there you go I was gonna say a sporting good store

Starting point is 00:26:16 probably pretty practical in a situation like this get some bad but if there's like a movie theater dude that would be pretty sick it's like a arcade area maybe like a seize candy yeah

Starting point is 00:26:27 if it's a Mrs. Fields if it's a Mrs. Fields 100% you know those don't know bad. If it's a mall that has a world market. Oh, yeah. Because those are so true. I love world market.

Starting point is 00:26:38 Great candles. See, there you go. There you go. So many options. Actually, I would hope that the mall for my universe has one of those like, it's only here for a month during Halloween, Halloween store. Yes. Super janky.

Starting point is 00:26:53 And you're pretty sure that if you were to come back the next day, somebody would be like mopping up and it would be empty and they'd be like, nothing's been in here for 15 years. That's my mall store I love it I would like Hell yeah Well you guys

Starting point is 00:27:08 That'll be it for us today Hopefully you guys had a great time With this reaction Let us know what you would want to do If you were stuck in an apocalypse Which one is your favorite maize runner And who do you think would be your fastest runner In the team

Starting point is 00:27:20 We love you guys Keep running Keep maizein And we'll see you in the next one Duceus

The Reel Rejects - MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS (2015) MOVIE REVIEW – GLADERS TAKE ON THE CRANKS – FIRST TIME WATCH

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