Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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20 UCW OCTOBER 21-27, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Everyone involved in The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (132 minutes) put their best foot forward and managed to reach a level of inco- herence that the book could only aspire to. I mean, the second book in the franchise made even less sense than the first book, but this film really goes above and beyond. I hope all those crazy 30-year-olds playing teenagers got a cash bonus for managing to deliver most of the lines with a straight face. Some throwaway backstory with absolutely no significance or payoff opens the film. A young Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) is taken in by WCKD amidst climate change/a pandemic/ the zombie apocalypse/mad lib your own crisis here. Later, Thomas Hood and his gang of Merry Men, plus one Eve archetype, escape from the clutches of WCKD approximately ten million times, only to be caught once again by WCKD. But because author James Dashner didn't really plan the plot of the fran- chise so much as he threw darts at random young adult clichés until he had assembled a novel, we don't know which of the kindly apocalyptic cults/ rebels/raves/underground black market trade groups are actually WCKD, and which ones are double-agents or whatever. So look forward to our heroes fleeing WCKD, being taken in by groups who turn them into WCKD, and then using explosions to get away for the next two plus hours. Anyway, Thomas, Newt (Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Teresa (Kayla Scodelario) and some other people who aren't that important are taken into an evil compound by Obvious Evil Guy Mr. Janson (Aiden "Littlefinger" Gillen). Do our heroes use a combination of pluck and moxie to escape? They do. After surviving a zombie stampede and fleeing into a desert wasteland the crew dropkicks a red-shirt-wearing background character into the grave and finds another group of people to annoy. Since that group has a chick, and two chicks together in a scene is one too many, Teresa conveniently exits the plot and Brenda (Rosa Salazar) takes her place. Then, there are explosions and more zombies, followed by a trip to the Drugs and Sex Emporium, run by the sad shell of a man who used to be Alan Tudyk. He sends them to their next group of random people, which results in ending number one. Someone mixed up the script, so there are at least three more endings after that, each one more laughable than the next. Overall, compared to the book, the film was clearly influenced by a lot of people who hate books and have opinions along the line of "Zombies are so hot right now! We need more zombies in this dystopia!" and "Logic? Who needs logic when everyone is so young and pretty?" not to mention "You know what the young science fictions readers like? Alan Tudyk! Rebellion! Also, explosions!" We can definitely look forward to the third film featuring actor Alan Tudyk as a CGI zombie that randomly explodes in the middle of a rebellion. At this point, I'd say save your money and read the book, but really, why not check out something good instead, like William Sleater's House of Stairs? Now playing at Patriot 14 + IMAX. Meet the Walking Dead (28 Days Later) The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Coronation Mass Mozart Friday, October 23rd - 7:30 p.m. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church 1601 Raeford Road, Fayetteville, NC Tickets: $25.00 at the door Discounts for groups of 10 or more Students of all ages admitted free with I.D. Cumberland Oratorio Singers Exclusions apply. Not valid with any other oers or coupons. 910-483-2320 1114 Hay Street Fayetteville $199 VALID ON SERIES 4800 windowanddoorspecialties.com Vi s i t o u r s h ow ro o m