CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Film Review: ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ Has Run Out of Life
CHICAGO – The third part of the “Maze Runner” trilogy is called “The Death Cure,” and that cure best describes the faint pulse of this run-out-of-steam dystopia aimed at “young adults.” It is mostly warring and not much more, except for a stab (literally) at misplaced emotion.
Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
The trilogy started out with promise, as they are based on a novel series by James Dashner. The first film had a drawing-back-the-curtain effect, promising that perhaps the strange maze our heroes had to go through was some sort of mind experiment. But by the second film, that effect turned into a literal and bizarre adventure in a post-apocalyptic world, a kiddie “Mad Max.” The third installment continues the second film concept, and ups the ante. More big bang effects, more guns, more 20-year-olds-portraying-teenagers-as-virus-survivalists, and less of anything to really latch onto. This is the Maze Runner film for completists only.
The film opens with a rescue by The Right Arm Resistance, who hijack a trainload of teenagers captured by the enemy agency WCKD. The agency is experimenting with immune teens whose blood might cure a deadly virus killing the rest of the world. The rescue is led by former Maze Runners Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), and they succeed in bringing the train car back to their camp.
It turns out that one of their own, Minho (Ki Hong Lee), is still missing. So against the orders of Resistance leader Vince (Barry Pepper), Thomas, Newt and Frypan (Dexter Darden) attempt to infiltrate the “Last City,” where tests are being performed on Minho, whose blood make contain the serum to cure the virus. The experiments are being overseen by Theresa (Kaya Scodelario) – another former Maze Runner – who works for Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson), a leader of WCKD. With all these circumstances, the Resistance confronts WCKD.
The Young Adult Cast of ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox