The Scorch Trials, the action-packed sequel to the hit movie and novel The Maze Runner, shows the devastating reality of the world outside the maze. The teenagers who escaped the maze possess immunity to a fictional, global epidemic called the Flare that turns its victims into zombie-like creatures.

Because of their gift, they are thrown into a real-world game of cat-and-mouse in which they are being hunted down by an organization called WCKD that wants their blood to create a cure for the Flare.

The apocalyptic theme of this movie creates a lot of drama and intense action scenes. The extremely realistic and thrilling effects keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. It is definitely a must-see film for all fans of The Maze Runner who crave an answer to what happens next.

Although the exhilarating effects add to the quality of this movie, the overall plot and storyline were not very satisfying to most viewers. The reviews given by famous movie critics have a more negative viewpoint of The Scorch Trials.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 50 percent approval rating, Metacritic gives it a 43 percent approval rating and IMDb gives it a 7 out of 10.

“The Scorch Trials isn’t a particularly good movie, but it’s just fast and nutty enough to keep you entertained,” New York Magazine writer Bilge Ebiri says.

The movie was exceptionally repetitive; the majority of the scenes involved the main characters fleeing from people infected with the Flare. The frequent running scenes lasted much longer than necessary and took up more screen time than the scenes that were more important to the plot.

Similarly to the first movie, many characteristics of this film were severely skewed or even changed completely from the original book. All the viewers who have read the novels in the Maze Runner trilogy will relate to this frustration. Even so, the sense of urgency and mystery found throughout both the first movie and first book is back again for a second round.

In a generation in which dystopian films dominate theaters all over the country, this particular one has not stood out in the crowd. It is a common opinion that the sequel is never as good as the original, and that rule definitely applies to this movie.