If last year's The Maze Runner was, indeed, a runner, then its follow-up, The Scorch Trails, is more of a jogger. Taking away its inciting incident — the titular maze itself — and relying on the half-strung characters we either sorta remember or completely forget from last time, or are only briefly introduced to here, Wes Ball's sequel lacks the urgency of his first film. It sizzles when it wants to spark, and it burns out before it could burst into flames.
Picking up nearly exactly where things left off last time, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his team of surviving gladers, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Frypan (Dexter Darden) and Winston (Alexander Flores), are outside the title-baring confinement that once imprisoned them, but are now restricted again: this time under a remote, militarized outpost run by A.D. Janson (Aidan Gillen), whom suits them finely but doesn't settle well with our lead. Catching the swifty-eyed attention of Aris Jones (Jacob Lofland), he and Thomas creep through the post to disclose what they're not being told. Only then do they discover the horrific schemes in motion and, grabbing their friends, make a break for what's outside: the Scorch Trails.
Plains upon plains upon plains of sand and ruin lay in their way, and they're never less than unforgiving. Were these hot conditions not enough, they're now chased by mutant deformities and by Janson himself, vested up with his militaristic underlings. Tensions are high, and though there's always conflict in their wakes, it won't stop the new friends and foes that coming fleeing with barely a second's notice. The gladers are never short on opposition, and The Scorch Trails is hardly light on spectacle and suspense. Which then makes its dull execution all the more confusing.
While everything's damper, darker and more opposing here, it's lacking the simplicity of the original. Not that more conflict is bad, but when the story is muddled with too many new characters and a not-as-clearly-cemented challenge, it's harder to get wrapped up in every development. There's something oddly meandering about this new Maze Runner. Though it knows how to elevate the stakes, it's never concentrated enough to entice you as it did previously. The pacing seems too speedy and trigger-happy, which contradicts with the more methodical character segments sometimes bugling through. There's less reason to care, and less careful attention to anything other than fine production values and occasionally invigorating action. To view it in a different perspective, Ball's got too many balls to juggle.
Once again, though, O'Brien carries it all along well, plus his fellow young cast members don't ever keep him down for the count, including Rosa Salazar as Brenda. Every one provides the thematic weight to help involve us in the barren environment they live in. Predictably, however, it's the adult stars that take the picture, including Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor and Patricia Clarkson, in addition to Gillen. Each and every one invests themselves as they can, and have the heavy exposition not be as unaffected as it's written. Knowing their talents are for something so washy, though, makes their work somewhat sour.
Scorch Trails desires some mystery in its narrative progress, but because the first one spend more time setting up the now-absent maze than its characters, there's not really enough here to tightly latch onto. From the predictable romances to the endless running (even if it's in the title, it could use a breather), it's a little too binary. With all these YA features coming out now, you need to be more distinct to stand out, and Scorch Trails suggests the Maze Runner series doesn't really have much to gain momentum. All of it looks nice, but when it doesn't serve to anything, it doesn't really matter in the long run (did you see what I did there?).
For better or worse, Scorch Trials appears like another chapter in the series, with another to come in short notice. Similar to Insurgent this spring, though, it's too much of a middle section to fly on its own. There's no real beginning and no real end; it's just a book-marker setting up the next section. At over two hours, it's a little too heavy in its weight. The Maze Runner could afford to lose some bloat, or to go on a fitness boost. Maybe a stretch or two wouldn't hurt either.