The Maze Runner is a trilogy of science fiction, dystopian, action, and adventure movies produced in North America and based on James Dashner’s best-selling The Maze Runner books. The Maze Runner Trilogy takes you to a dystopian world where people have all been turned into zombies by the Flare virus, which has infected the whole planet.
Thomas, one of the kids selected for the experiment to find the hormones that would cure the Flare virus, is the subject of this trilogy.
With strong acting, a solid premise, and a refreshingly dark setting, The Maze Runner stands out in the crowded teen sci-fi adventure film field. It attracts a large number of young fans and runners to watch it. If you like to participate in similar running competitions and games, you can try to win a race medal for yourself. If you are holding a similar program, you can customize race medals or running medals for participants. Souvenirs or encouragement can be provided. Fan clubs can also customize movie-themed medals as organizational logos.
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A sequel was produced after the box office success of the teen fantasy science fiction movies. This trilogy, which began in 2014 with “The Maze Runner,” is exceptional because it is packed with thrilling chases, tension, and battle scenes. As I go over each movie and recommend the optimal Mazer Runner watch order, keep reading.
Maze Runner Movies in Order at A Glance
To follow the story and characters, the Maze Runner films must be watched in order, and only in that order. The films in the Maze Runner series are listed below in order of when they were released:
- Maze Runner (2014)
- Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
- Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Order of the Maze Runner movies (fully explained)
Maze Runner, First (2014)
Overview
- Availability: October 10, 2014
- Wes Ball, director
- Budget: $34 million
Wes Ball was the director of the first Maze Runner film, which was released in 2014. The main character of the film, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), wakes up alongside a group of other kids locked in a maze. He has no memories of the outside world other than nightmares about a group known as WCKD (World Catastrophe Killzone Department). Thomas’ only chance of finding his purpose and a way out is to piece together his past using the hints he finds around the maze.
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Summary
A scared and alone young man is being carried upward in a gigantic elevator. The elevator opens after a brief time of darkness, and a sea of young male faces stare down at a little child who has no idea of his past or origins. All that is left of these boys is their names.
The Glade is a lush, green plateau surrounded by insurmountable walls, and Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is its newest resident. They are not your normal walls, though. They make up the edges of a complex maze whose grid and orientation change every night.
The boys, some of whom have been there for three years, have established clear rules, divided themselves into groups according to their areas of expertise, and developed a system for peaceful coexistence. The maze runners are one such gifted group. They spend their days running around the labyrinth while mentally memorizing its layout in an effort to eventually find a way out.
However, Thomas’s entry sets off a string of violent and dangerous incidents, including a number of attacks by the Grievers, and huge metallic creatures.
Thomas is convinced he can escape the maze, but when they look for answers about their past and the events that led to their “incarceration,” The Glade’s fragile, delusional equilibrium will be disturbed.
The Gladers appeared to be virus-resistant as the film draws to a close. The Gladers learn that they were participants in a study looking at how their brains responded to the virus. The woman commits suicide at the end of the movie as men in uniformed mercenaries storm the lab with military-style weapons. With a pistol he found, Gally appears out of nowhere.
After being stung by a Griever, he insists they stay in the Maze and then points the pistol at Thomas, intending to kill him in retribution for the destruction of the Glade. Chuck shoots a bullet at Minho, injuring him in the chest, while Minho throws a spear at Gally, impaling him in the chest. The party is taken away in a helicopter by armed men wearing masks who barge in.
The Maze appears to have been put into a vast desert landscape as they hover over it. An uninhabited city is eventually reached by helicopter.
The supposedly dead scientists gather in a chamber as the scene comes to a close. The experiment, according to Paige, was a success, and Phase Two has begun for the surviving.
2. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Overview
- Director: Wes Ball Release Date: September 10, 2015
- Budget: $61 million
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the second movie in the Maze Runner series, follows Thomas and his fellow Gladers as they look for knowledge about the WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate area rife with perils.
The Gladers engage WCKD’s “vastly superior” forces alongside resistance fighters and expose the organization’s intentions for each of them. The 2015 film Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials had a decent opening but garnered mostly unimpressive reviews. Young actors like Thomas Brodie Sangster were thrust into the forefront as a result.
Summary
In Labyrinth Runner (2014), Thomas and a select group of teenagers were able to find their way out of the maze and from the Glade. After fleeing, the children must contend with the scorch trials’ perils and Dr. Ava Paige’s evil plans for W.C.K.D.
After Janson’s rescue, Thomas, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho, Teresa Agnes (Kaya Scodelario), Frypan, and Winston feel safe, but Aris, another Janson rescuee, reveals a startling truth about their “haven.”
The Gladers move in the direction of the mountains in quest of The Right Arm after becoming stuck on the outskirts of a sizable desert. When Thomas and Minho turn on an abandoned building with electricity, some Cranks attack them and start chasing after them. The chase becomes more intense when the cranks and mercs collide.
While they look for a way out, Winston uses a pistol to keep the Cranks at bay, but one of them hits and scratches him. He is freed by the others.
The Gladers keep moving across the sand dunes as dawn draws near. Since Winston has been infected and the sickness is quickly spreading throughout his body, they collide. He doesn’t want to become a crank; all he wants is to be released from his misery.
A gun is produced by Frypan, which Newt grabs and gives to Winston. Winston says goodbye to his friends before they depart. While walking, they all hear a single gunshot.
Thomas observes a civilization in the distance while the others are dozing off. A massive lighting storm starts to develop as the gang keeps moving. Furious lightning strikes Minho, but not fatally. His friends take him and drag him into a different structure. There, they find dozens of chained Cranks.
Brenda (Rosa Salazar), who cohabitates with a group of survivors in the shadows, emerges. She points Jorge, her commander, and surrogate father figure, at the Gladers (Giancarlo Esposito). When he looks at the tattoos on the Gladers’ necks, he understands they are valuable and come from a WCKD facility. Jorge also learns that The Right Arm is being sought after.
This sets off a series of escapes, pursuits, hunts, and adventures for this little group as they negotiate deserted areas, hot terrain, zombie attacks, and the constant threat of W.C.K.D. When this core group meets the colorful underground leader Jorge, tensions finally start to rise. Brenda, Thomas and Jorge’s right-hand lady, embarks on a surreal side plot, however, and the plot loses momentum once more.
This adaptation of the second book in James Dashner’s dystopian young adult book series, directed by Wes Ball again, suffers from middle film syndrome—a meandering story with scant character development and little in the way of plot. We expect that the third book in the series, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, will address the problem that plagues Scorch Trials, Insurgent, and Mockingjay Part 1 (The Hunger Games trilogy).
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Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Overview
- Availability: January 26, 2018
- Wes Ball, director
- Budget: $62 million
Dylan O’Brien nearly passed away while filming The Maze Runner: The Death Cure, which became a renowned moment in the series. Dylan O’Brien was hit by a stunt car during filming a stunt scene, resulting in severe and extensive injuries.
The climax to the Maze Runner film series, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, follows Thomas as he leads his team of released Gladers on their most dangerous assignment yet. They must penetrate the well-known Last City, a WCKD-run labyrinth that might end up being the deadliest maze of them all, to save their friends. The Gladers have been asking questions ever since they entered the maze, and whoever makes it out will learn the answers.
Summary
The final book in The Maze Runner trilogy The Death Cure opens with a lavish action sequence that includes a rushing train, jeeps that resemble tanks, a transporting plane (named Berg), and a hanging train car. Thomas is leading the Gladers in an effort to free their friend Minho, who has been taken hostage by WCKD. Why did he get caught? Because WCKD is confident that a large population of immune persons will lead to the discovery of the virus’s cure.
The remaining portion of the movie is spent trying to find Minho after Thomas and his crew steals the incorrect train carriage. But it’s also about Thomas’s confrontation with Teresa, a former flame, about other Gladers falling victim to the Flare, and about finally defeating WCKD.
While searching for Minho, Thomas and his team reach the Last City. Here, protected by an enormous wall that separates them from people who have the deadly infection, lies the haven of WCKD.
Thomas finds Ava and shoots her with his gun. She tries to help him, but Janson shoots her to death. He brings Thomas into the space where Teresa is preparing to take his blood. When Janson says that WCKD would only heal those who are considered appropriate, Teresa hits him over the head and tries to help Thomas escape. Then Thomas starts battling Janson. Before Janson can finish off the two Cranks, Thomas throws a weight against a jail door that is holding them.
They erupt and start mowing down Janson. Thomas has been shot by Janson as Teresa and Thomas try to climb to the top of the building. Brenda, Vince, Gally, Jorge, and Vince fly to the summit. Thomas gets help from Teresa to leap to safety.
Before she can depart, the institution’s neighboring building is destroyed by the chaos of the insurrection. WCKD is struck by the following structure, which causes it to collapse and take Teresa with it. Thomas watches her die as she falls in agony.
The survivors eventually reach the island that Ava described as a safe refuge. They make it into their new residence. The necklace that Newt had previously given Thomas is presented by Minho. There is a note from Newt to Thomas inside, in which he reflects on their entire battle, thanks him for being a friend, and advises him to take care of both himself and everyone else.
The survivors then start writing the names of their departed loved ones on a rock. Chuck, Newt, and Teresa’s names are engraved by Thomas. The last image shows Thomas standing by himself on the sand, holding the serum, and staring off into the horizon.
