Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

The Cure is Worse Than the Disease


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Lets start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

🎬 Trailers

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The Messiah Problem (Before We Even Begin)

Let’s be real — one of the biggest issues with The Death Cure is the messiah trope. Thomas isn’t just a main character anymore — he’s the chosen one whose blood magically holds the cure to the Flare. That one cliché drags the entire movie down, because suddenly all the tension about survival and loyalty takes a back seat to “protect the kid with the miracle veins.” We’ve seen this trope a thousand times — and it’s lazy here. It turns an otherwise solid dystopian thriller into yet another “only one boy can save us all” story.


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🍿 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

The movie picks up after the chaos of Scorch Trials. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his friends are on a mission to rescue Minho (Ki Hong Lee), who’s been captured by WCKD. Their journey leads them into the last remaining city — a fortified stronghold where WCKD is conducting experiments on immune kids to try to develop a cure for the Flare virus.

Inside the city, tensions boil between rebels, civilians, and the oppressive WCKD leadership. Thomas must choose between saving his friend, taking down WCKD, and grappling with the ugly truth: his blood may be the only cure.

💔 Breaking the YA Romance Mold

One of the most refreshing things about The Maze Runner trilogy is how it flips the typical young adult romance formula on its head. Most YA franchises lean into the idea that no matter how grim the world is, the love story remains untouchable — the guy gets the girl, the girl softens the guy, and they walk into the sunset while society collapses around them.

This trilogy doesn’t play that game. Instead, it gives us Thomas and Teresa’s bond — a complicated, fragile relationship that isn’t built to survive the apocalypse. Teresa isn’t written as a prize to be won; she’s her own character with agency, flaws, and beliefs that directly oppose Thomas and the Gladers. Her decision to side with WCKD fractures the group and reframes her role from “love interest” into “antagonist with good intentions.” That’s a bold move, and it makes her arc far more interesting than if she had just been a loyal partner.

What makes this approach so effective is the emotional messiness it leaves behind. The trilogy isn’t about romance as salvation — it’s about how relationships complicate survival. Teresa’s betrayal cuts deeper because it hurts someone she genuinely cares about, and her sacrifice later on stings even more because it proves her love was real, but it couldn’t outweigh her convictions.

And here’s the kicker: people often forget this is, in fact, a zombie trilogy. Sure, it’s packaged like a YA survival drama with love triangles and teenage angst, but at its heart it’s a zombie apocalypse story. The Cranks aren’t mindless background fodder; they’re grotesque, fast, unpredictable, and absolutely horrifying. Their presence injects genuine dread and tension into every action sequence, which raises the stakes in ways most YA franchises never dare. If audiences are willing to count Warm Bodies as a zombie movie, then there’s no reason The Maze Runner trilogy shouldn’t get the same recognition — because underneath the YA polish, it’s still survival horror.

By the end, Thomas doesn’t get the neat, happy ending where love fixes everything. Instead, we’re left with grief, conflicting loyalties, and the reminder that sometimes love isn’t enough to hold a broken world together. It’s not clean, it’s not pretty, but it feels honest — and that’s what makes The Maze Runner stand apart from the sea of YA romances.

Hot People in the Apocalypse
Let’s just admit it: this cast looks like they were hand-picked straight out of a modeling agency. Everyone’s got the perfect cheekbones, the strong jawlines, the brooding eyes — it’s almost distracting at first. But here’s the thing: the movies don’t shove it in our faces. They don’t break the fourth wall or make some meta “see, they’re hot” joke. Instead, these beautiful people are thrown into dirt, sweat, fear, and blood — and the story keeps the focus on survival, not on who looks good shirtless. Honestly, that makes it work better. The characters happen to be gorgeous, but the narrative doesn’t treat them like celebrities, it treats them like desperate survivors.



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👥 Character Rundown

Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) – Our reluctant messiah, forever dragged back into the fight.

Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) – The emotional backbone of the group. His arc here is devastating.

Minho (Ki Hong Lee) – Trapped, experimented on, and fighting to hold on.

Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) – Torn between loyalty to Thomas and her work at WCKD.

Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) – Cold, clinical leader of WCKD.

Janson (Aidan Gillen, aka Littlefinger) – Supposed twist villain. Spoiler: no one was fooled.

Walton Goggins as Lawrence – Scarred rebel leader. Almost unrecognizable, but a standout thanks to Goggins’ knack for playing unhinged yet magnetic characters.



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💓 Why Newt Is My Favorite

Newt has always been the heart of this trilogy. He’s not the loudest or flashiest — he’s the steady, dependable glue holding everyone together. In The Death Cure, that loyalty and warmth are pushed to their breaking point, and it makes his presence even more powerful. He represents the cost of survival in this story more than anyone else. When Newt hurts, we hurt. And when his arc concludes… it’s devastating.

Why the Cranks Work as Horror
What makes the Cranks terrifying isn’t just their grotesque design — it’s how they function. These aren’t slow, shambling corpses. They’re fast, ravenous, and swarm like a hive. The second they sense sound or movement, they descend in a frenzy, overwhelming their prey with sheer numbers. The tunnels and ruined cities in Scorch Trials and Death Cure amplify this — darkness, echoing shrieks, the unsettling sound of claws scraping against walls before you even see them. The tension comes from knowing you’re not safe anywhere: step into the shadows, and you might trigger a stampede. Unlike some zombie franchises where you can “walk past” the undead, the Cranks are relentless predators. That blend of speed, unpredictability, and claustrophobic environments is what makes them some of the most frightening zombies put to screen — even though this isn’t marketed as a straight horror series.



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⏳ Pacing / Episode Flow

The movie is long, and it feels long. The opening train rescue is exciting, the infiltration of the Last City is tense, but the middle bogs down with WCKD politics and cliché messiah talk. The final act ramps things back up with big action set-pieces — but it can’t quite hide how bloated and predictable the script is.


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👍 Pros

Emotional performances, especially from Dylan O’Brien and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

Walton Goggins, even in limited screen time, brings menace and depth.

Big set-pieces (train rescue, Last City infiltration) are visually impressive.

Newt’s arc — heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, unforgettable.



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👎 Cons

Messiah blood trope drags the story into cliché.

Janson as a twist villain? Please. Nobody bought that casting choice.

Middle act is bloated with exposition and stalls momentum.

Overly long runtime (2 hours 20 minutes) that could’ve been trimmed.

Virus Logic Issues
As much as I loved seeing Walton Goggins pop up here (he’s always a standout), his character really muddles the Flare virus. The rules of infection are already shaky, but this made it worse. We’ve been told the Flare destroys the brain, strips away humanity, and turns people into mindless, violent “Cranks.” But Goggins’ character is heavily infected — face half gone, body clearly ravaged — yet he can talk, reason, scheme against WCKD, and retain his identity. So which is it? Does the Flare instantly make you a monster, or can you linger in some half-zombie limbo? The story doesn’t clarify, and when a zombie story bends its own rules like that, it lowers the tension. If we don’t know what’s at stake when someone gets infected, the fear of the virus loses some of its bite.

Con: Gally’s Return Feels Like a Retcon
Bringing Gally (Will Poulter) back in The Death Cure was one of those moves that felt less like a clever twist and more like a retcon the writers pulled out of thin air. In the first film, we literally watch him get speared in the chest and collapse during the maze’s destruction. By all logic, he was dead. Yet here he is, perfectly alive in the third film with a hand-wavy “surprise, he survived!” explanation. It doesn’t track, and it kind of cheapens the emotional weight of his original arc — especially since Chuck’s death was tied directly to him. His comeback feels like a studio note saying, “We need a familiar face in the finale,” rather than an organic story choice. Instead of a jaw-dropping reveal, it plays more like a narrative band-aid, and for fans who remember that brutal spear scene, it’s hard not to see this as a clumsy retcon.

Spoiler Con – The Walls Don’t Make Sense
One thing that just does not sit right with me is the rebellion’s big push to tear down Wicked’s walls. Like… why? Those walls are the only thing keeping the Cranks out. If anything, you’d think people would be scheming to break into the city, not rip it apart. The logic is baffling — you’ve survived this long in a world crawling with infected, and your grand plan is basically, “Let’s make the safe zone unsafe again!” It comes off less like a revolution and more like a self-destruct button, and it undercuts the stakes because you’re left thinking, “You guys just doomed yourselves.”



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💭 Final Thoughts

The Death Cure is a messy but emotional conclusion. It’s bloated, cliché, and saddled with the worst “chosen one” nonsense this side of YA dystopia, but it also delivers gut-punch moments that stick with you — especially Newt’s. Walton Goggins adds flavor, the action is slick, and the performances carry it further than the script deserves.

Rating: 8/10 (same as the others, but for different reasons — this one earns it on emotion more than story).


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning ⚠️

From here on out, full spoilers ahead.


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🔥 Spoilers

The movie opens with a thrilling train heist where Thomas and crew attempt to rescue Minho — but they fail. Minho is taken into the city, where he’s tortured and tested by WCKD. Meanwhile, Thomas learns that WCKD is close to perfecting a cure — thanks to his blood. Cue the “messiah” trope groans.

The group infiltrates the Last City with the help of resistance forces, including the scarred and half-broken Lawrence (Walton Goggins). Lawrence’s rebellion sets off chaos inside the city, giving Thomas and the others a chance to strike at WCKD.

Newt’s arc hits the hardest. He’s infected with the Flare, slowly deteriorating. In one of the trilogy’s most emotional moments, he begs Thomas to end his suffering when he loses control. Thomas resists, but during a violent struggle, he’s forced to stab Newt to stop him. Newt dies in his best friend’s arms — a scene that left fans shattered. It’s powerful, but also undercut by the fact that Thomas’ “magic blood” could’ve cured him if the script hadn’t decided otherwise.

Meanwhile, Teresa tries to protect Thomas from Janson’s schemes. But let’s be honest — the moment Aidan Gillen walked onscreen, everyone knew he was the villain. Playing it like a shocking reveal was laughable. Janson tries to force Thomas to give up his blood for mass production, but Thomas resists.

The finale sees Thomas and Teresa trapped in WCKD HQ as the building collapses during a rebel assault. Teresa sacrifices herself to help Thomas escape, falling to her death in a scene that’s meant to mirror redemption, but feels hollow.

In the end, WCKD falls, the immune kids survive, and Thomas is left carrying the scars of everything he’s lost. The final shot is bittersweet: the world is still broken, but there’s hope.


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✅ So that’s The Death Cure. Emotional highs, cliché lows, and a finale that hurts because of Newt — but also frustrates because of the lazy messiah trope.