QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News Service, September 14) – What is it about dystopian, post-apocalyptic films that drags the audience to the theater and forked up their hard-earned money?
Add some fairly attractive teenagers battling against the odds, an ecological catastrophe as well as a smattering of zombies and you have a box-office hit.
Now for some spoilers. The Scorch Trials picked up where Maze Runner left off, with the kids from the Maze arriving at a secure installation in the middle of a vast desert where it was said that they will stay while waiting to be sent to a safe haven where WICKED will not find them anymore.
It’s all a lie.
When the kids found out the truth, they fled the installation – which actually belonged to WICKED and decided to face danger and uncertainty traversing aforementioned vast weather to reach the mountains and safety.
While traveling, the audience was treated to a vista of a post-apocalyptic world. An abandoned ruin of a city begs the question: what happened?
As if ecological disaster is not enough, there also seems to be a plague of zombies and WICKED is sure in its conviction that our teenage protagonists are the cure and hope of the world. No pressure, guys!
Scorch Trials is the latest installment in that particular young adult genre about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world after the collapse of civilization. It combines two popular tropes, the young warrior and zombies.
With its young actors turning in okay performances, the Scorch Trials managed to capture the bleak atmosphere faced by said youngsters. You can literally feel exhausted as they traversed the hot desert. Also, random moments of surprise and violence livens up the film.
There is no doubt that the Scorch Trials is a hit. It earned more compared to the first installment of the series. And I still don’t get it why post-apocalyptic/dystopian films are all the rage right now.
(written by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Vince Alvin Villarin)