Maze Runner: The Death Cure 2018 Reaction!

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[@josemaldonado9801]

Obviously I think Teresa’s death was for dramatic effect, but its actually somewhat believable because one can argue that she chose to die because she could not forgive herself for all the stuff she did to the people in that hovercraft.

[@KaizerHiwatari]

In the books she's crushed by falling debris. No melodramatics, lol.

[@M4TTHEW4546]

Maybe she couldn't handle those awkward vibes on the ride home

[@ranniwolves]

@@KaizerHiwatarithis is not the books, this is the movies

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

I suppose there is a melodramatic aspect to it; however, Theresa's death does make sense for her character. She was totally devoted to WCKD, body and soul. It was her raison d'etre. She couldn't bear to live in a world where there was no WCKD. So, she chose to die, as it were, with WCKD. Who did Theresa love? She loved WCKD, not Thomas.

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

I do love have Matty really gets into his reactions, like he's actually part of the action. That's a sincere and real reaction to a film.

[@bryan2638]

Your hate for Teresa and love for Newt identify me so well 😂😂

[@Kippenn.1]

All he said was that she never needed to die and he literally stated I trust Teresa now

[@ranniwolves]

@@Kippenn.1then why did he like this comment and not yours?

[@atlasjupiter]

gally in this movie is so good, this is why he legit is one of my favourite characters despite what went down in the first one😂. the reasoning with thomas being the cure is basically that the way his body responded to the maze differently than the others (and the way he made different choices than the other boys in the maze) is how his body started producing the cure, while the others didn't. so definitely a side of main character syndrome, but with at least a vague amount of actual backing. and re: teresa's death. like what others said, what got her was probably that hesitation of "do i deserve to live after all i did", plus the whole scene after the two buildings crashed was in slow motion so to us it feels like there was much more time than there really was. it was super neat to watch your reaction to this trilogy, cheers man :D

[@KaizerHiwatari]

In the books, there is a lot less "main character syndrome." For starters, Thomas isn't the cure. At least, we don't know if he is the cure or not, since they would have to kill him and harvest his brain to determine if he is or isn't. WICKD considers him to be the "prime candidate," and goes out of their way to NOT kill him (which is why he gets away with 90% of his hair-brained schemes, lol). But being the prime candidate still only means there's like a 50/50 chance that he's the cure, so Thomas isn't willing to die to find out.

[@ehlierodriguez9127]

the way you kept calling him nino LMFAOO

[@richardhoehn9922]

And "Dylan McBride" Ha ha!

[@gia-pz6vd]

Dylan got injured during the opening scene with the stunt car and suffered facial fractures, a concussion and brain trauma.

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

The funny thing is that Matty talked about Vince (Barry Pepper) getting run-over and losing his soles during the train chase. Little did Matty know how close he was to it! He described the right circumstance but the wrong actor.

[@floaty6444]

when Newt thanks Minho before he runs for the serum, i think it’s like Newt thanking him for saving him back in the maze (in movie verse Minho saves him from attempted suicide not Alby). like he knows he’s going to have to kill himself bc Thomas won’t

[@lilywillyskz]

yes definitely. i also think they should not have deleted the scene where newt tells thomas about him breaking his leg, because it shows really how grateful he is to minho and why he wants to save him so bad and why he says thank you at the end.

[@emz2971]

this is my fav of the three. i cry every time.

[@Ivar3587]

Teresa’s death as satisfying as it was…completely necessary for the storyline in the sense that it would allow Thomas to move on and be able to let go. Since Brenda mentions that he can’t walk away from people even when he should…her sacrifice in a way made Thomas move on with his life and go to the safe haven and finally find some peace and happiness.

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

Yeah, except in the film, Thomas isn't staying in the Safe Haven.

[@film4afilm4a42]

The way newt death destroyed me is illegall

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

The SUV tipping over in the tunnel was an unscripted accident. However, they decided to keep it in the final film.

[@ammarmalik9035]

Fun fact: In the book, Teresa dies by protecting Thomas from getting crushed and Thomas actually shoots newt because he is forced to

[@ohshiitake]

Died at "I'm a dog that wants in here"

[@KaizerHiwatari]

Movies aren't really filmed in chronological order, so seeing the "cut" where Dylan looks older would be quite difficult, lol. The accident occurred on just the 4th day of filming, so it's a safe bet to say most of the scenes are post-time jump. He was run over by a stunt car, and it took him just over a year to recover. (Yikes.)

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

And it seems like I've heard him say he now has metal implants (in his head?) as a result.

[@laurencoleman8773]

I shipped Brenda and Thomas more than Thomas and Teresa 😭 Brenda and Thomas ended up together at the end of the books, they decided not to show it in the films tho

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

They didn't show it because the final scene indicates just the opposite is going to happen. Thomas isn't staying in the Safe Haven, as in the book, he's going back to the Flare world and offer himself as cure. Thomas is a tragic hero in the films, he wasn't in the books. Tragic heroes suffer. Ultimately, his suffering leads him to an epiphany at the end of the third film. By this time, Thomas has gained the strength to accept his fate which he will meet even if it means his death. Tragic heroes almost always die. This is without doubt what the epilogue of the final film means. Even though WCKD's HQ was destroyed along with the city, there were more than one WCKD lab and installation referenced in the films. It's a pity there wasn't a fourth film made where we would see our hero, Thomas, noble to the end, achieve his ultimate destiny and be reunited with Newt in the Elysian Fields. That would have made a good trio into a great quartet.

[@zoemashburn5121]

i like the way they killed Newt in the movie because if they would have done it like in the book i would have forever been destroyed

[@alpix8217]

Teresa choose to not live because of her regrets . Thats my teorhy

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

Theresa didn't have any regrets. She ALWAYS believed what she was doing was justified. She chose not to live because WCKD was her life, and she wanted to die with WCKD.

[@tree6787]

Gally definitely had his redemption in this.😊

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

Gally wasn't a bad person in the first film, and the interplay between Thomas and Gally was quite realistic and believable. Gally was by no means a cardboard caricature antagonist. As others have remarked, what Gally said in the first film was not unreasonable. However, Gally had adapted too well to life in the maze. As a result, he and Thomas were in almost perfect antipodal balance with one another. I enjoyed that a lot. We also have to recall that Gally didn't intend to kill Chuck, he was gunning for Thomas. Even on that score, Gally was infected with Griever sting. He didn't really need much redemption. By the way, Will Poulter does a fantastic American accent. Absolutely incredible. He sounds more American than many Americans.

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

Newt's "flare-up" to Thomas over Theresa told us not only that Newt was infected but also indicated that Newt was jealous of Theresa. He needn't have been. However, the Flare allowed submerged emotions to bubble to the surface. Later, Newt ripping off his necklace containing his note to Thomas and angrily insisting Thomas take it also says something. Newt was keeping that note to Thomas next to his heart and Thomas must have it. Whether you want to consider the relationship Platonic or otherwise, that act is a species of consummation. Indeed, although I'm really not into Freudian symbolism, the knife struggle, it's not a fight, between Newt and Thomas could also be interpreted similarly. Throughout the trilogy, it's pretty clear there is a very close bond between Thomas and Newt. Closer than between any of the other characters. Several scenes which were left out of the films underscore this relationship, and it's a pity, in retrospect, they were deleted. Where's the chemistry between Thomas and Theresa or between Thomas and Brenda? There is none. Oh, for sure, there's some sort of emotional attachment between Thomas and Theresa owing to their shared pre-Glade history, but don't mistake it for love. If there had been something between them pre-memory-wipe, it no longer exists. Would Theresa betray Thomas if she actually loved him? if Theresa was wedded to anything, it's WCKD. I've always wondered if Theresa didn't betray Thomas to WCKD initially, and history repeated itself. Brenda does seem to love Thomas, but Thomas regards her as a friend only. The mythic elements on which the films are based actually call for Newt to be in love with Thomas. Newt is clearly Ariadne, Ariadne loved Theseus, and Theseus is Thomas. The two actors seem to have been aware of this aspect of the characters and portrayed them accordingly. I can only assume they wanted the audience to think Thomas and Newt were actually more than just good friends. You start noticing this right away. For example, as Newt walks away after meeting Thomas for the first time, Thomas looks after him several times, and Newt seems to glance back towards Thomas himself. Alby even looks back to see what Thomas is looking at. When Thomas rashly runs into the maze the first time, who reaches out to stop him? It's Newt. There are many like cues in the films. After Newt's death, it's clear that Thomas is no longer the same person as he was. The pièce de résistance is Newt's love letter to Thomas.

[@thvyun]

FINALLY I FOUND SOMEONE LIKE ME WHO CANT BRAIN WITH THE TERESA THING AT THE END ! WHY YOU DIED BABE ? THERE IS NO REASON FOR THAT !

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

Here endeth the third lesson of this amazing heroic trilogy. Although these films were adapted from a YA series of books, they are adult films, not YA, which probably explains the reaction of some viewers of that ilk. There is no female protagonist with associated love triangle etc. However, there is a love story, albeit one that's subtly understated. The films do homage to the books, but the universe of the films is not the same as the books. Thomas is very different in the films. You could describe the film trilogy as about selflessness and about a band of brothers, who follow the principle of "No man left behind." You could also say it's about life's stages with the first film being about childhood, the second about adolescence, and the third about adulthood. This only touches the surface, of course. The films are deeply rooted in myth. The most obvious aspect being the ancient Greek myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur." Thomas is, naturally, both the hero Theseus and Daedalus, whereas Newt is Ariadne, and therein lies the trilogy's love story. Heroic stories often follow the same basic pattern. In his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Joseph Campbell, distilled the world's myths into a common structure which he called the monomyth or hero's journey. It's very concisely summarized as follows: A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. That's the "Maze Runner" film trilogy in a nutshell. What's the "boon" in the trilogy? Obviously, it's Thomas himself or, more specifically, his blood. He can potentially save mankind. By the end of the third film, Thomas has come to accept this as his destiny which he will meet even if it means his death. Tragic heroes almost always die, and Thomas is a tragic hero. This is without doubt what the epilogue of the final film means. Thomas is going back to the Krank-world, and he is going to offer himself up as a cure even if it means his life is forfeit. Unlike the books, Thomas is not going to remain in the Safe Haven with Brenda to live happily ever after. Even though WCKD's HQ was destroyed along with the city, there were more than one WCKD lab and installation referenced in the films. Ask yourself, where was WCKD evacuating to in the third film? The fact that the trilogy doesn't end with a conventional happy-ending like boy-gets-girl or vice-versa, if that's your preference, also sets it apart. Another reason these are adult films. Nevertheless, many people do crave happy-endings. Instead, the film ends on a hopeful note. Thomas is going back. He's not going to stay in the Safe Haven, which, if you think about it, is really a new Glade. He's going to venture out into the maze again, the krank-filled-world. He's going to try to save, in this case, not just Alby and Minho, but the world. It's an open question whether he'll succeed. We hope so, but we don't know. This time the maze might defeat him. The end of the trilogy brings us full-circle, and we're back at the beginning. Thomas and Theresa are basically mirror images of one another. They're both betrayers, and they both want a cure, but they're complete opposites otherwise. The key difference being Thomas is selfless, whereas Theresa is self-centered. Theresa often refers to her own personal history to explain her actions. Thomas never does. To be fair, Thomas can't because his personal history has been erased, but, even so, we can see his altruism is innate. Personal history would have no bearing on his actions. These attributes primarily motivate their respective actions. Hopefully, everyone realizes there's no way Thomas could ever kill Newt, even Flare Newt. The same is true for Newt, but not Flare-Newt, of course. In that gut-wrenching struggle, Thomas would defend himself, but always stop short of killing Newt. Inevitably, Flare-Newt would kill Thomas. To save Thomas, Newt kills himself, instead, and as the Bible says: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Whereas Thomas and Theresa were "oppositum ego," Thomas and Newt were "idem ego." What effect did Newt's death have on Thomas? It's profound. Thomas is palpably different afterwards. He presents a diminished lifeforce and sadness. Not only did Newt die, but Thomas did, too. He will never again be the same person. Newt's death marks a turning point. From that time forward, Thomas will focus on being "the cure." He's not staying in the Safe Haven, he's leaving to save mankind. Thomas is determined to complete WCKD's mission, and we have yet another instance of immense tragic irony when Thomas, for a second time, offers himself to Ava Paige in lieu of the immunes. This time she accepts, and mankind might have been saved then and there, but Jansen, out of pure selfishness, kills her, and destroys the opportunity. The interplay between selflessness and selfishness is another aspect of the trilogy. "Does the end justify the means" represents WCKD's agenda and is the central theme of the "Maze Runner" trilogy. It's a principle often associated with totalitarianism, and the phrase has its origin with Machiavelli, although the idea is much older. The principle is part and parcel of consequentialism, a teleological theory that says whether an action is morally good or bad depends on its outcomes. The more good outcomes outnumber the bad, the better/more moral the action. Under this rubric if WCKD finds a cure, then WCKD is very good, indeed. Therea/WCKD adhere to this end-means principle rigidly. This principle is, unfortunately, a too common belief today. It allows people to believe their actions are justified regardless of how they go about achieving their desired end result. It potentially allows for all sorts of aberrant behaviors. A rather trivial example of this is the following scenario: My end is to get a certain work promotion. To get it, I work to sabotage all the other candidates. Hopefully, we agree that's not a nice way to behave. This is essentially the viewpoint of WCKD and Theresa, although they are dealing with an end of much greater significance. WCKD and Theresa are totally ruthless in their pursuit of a cure. Thomas, on the other hand, believes that the means are just as important, or, maybe, even more important, than the end. His viewpoint is if the means are morally objectionable in themselves, then this outweighs any potential benefit from the end. In other words, the "how" is just as important as the "why." Thomas, just like WCKD, wants to find a cure to the Flare, he's only opposed to how WCKD tries to do it. Thomas is willing to sacrifice himself to obtain a cure and save humanity. He's not willing, however, to sacrifice the unwilling. Theresa's/WCKD's morality is relativistic and man-centric, whereas Thomas' morality is based on absolute principles and God-centric. Even so, the trilogy challenges both WCKD's and Thomas' perspective, and makes us wonder which one is "right." I'm reminded of Pilate when he said: "What is truth?" We have man's truth, or we have God's Truth. Some miscellaneous observations: Cranks/Kranks. Krank is German for sick, diseased, unwell etc. The English word also has that connotation if you think about it. The purpose of the VR torture/stress isn't to increase heartrate but to alter brain engrams/chemistry. The increased heartrate is only a side-effect. Newt was probably injected with Flare at Jansen's facility. Recall the giant hypo? He was injected in that arm. The mystery is why it took so long to manifest itself. Different people may react differently. Thomas was shot in what looks to be the exact same spot as Ben was stung. By the way, under the circumstances, Thomas would have died from that gunshot wound. The only gripe I have about the films, and it's not really that big a gripe, is that Thomas should have died at the end of the third film. Tragic heroes almost always die, and since there weren't any more films, his arc was incomplete or left to the imagination. Why was Theresa put into the maze? She was always meant to coax Thomas back to WCKD, should he survive, as befits her role as "temptress." Why was Thomas put into the maze? Well, for betraying WCKD, but also to serve as an experimental catalyst to complete the Trial. He was the best and brightest of the immunes. A real genius, actually. His selflessness makes him act impulsively, and he can seem foolhardy as a result. He was Daedalus, the maze-maker etc., after all. Why do Thomas and, apparently, Theresa remember bits of their past, whereas the others don't? That must be by WCKD's design. Perhaps it's part of the coaxing back plan? WCKD always seems to want Thomas back after he escapes the maze. Why does Ben not seem to remember being stung or, presumably, the Griever? We know WCKD can wipe memories. Perhaps WCKD wanted stung boys to return to the Glade sometimes to create the situation he did. So, they'd wipe the memory of the sting/Griever. The Ben episode certainly created a lot of stress/terror for the Gladers, which was part of what the experiment was about. Why does the mob destroy the city? It's part and parcel of the madness of mobs!! Finally, what a fantastic trilogy "Maze Runner" is, especially when you consider all three films only cost $157 million. The average cost for a major Hollywood movie is $100 million. You'd never know it watching these three movies that they were done on the cheap. They come across as much more expensive productions. Hats off to the actors for their incredible performances and the director, crew and SFX folks, too. Job very well done.

[@redisotschek8643]

26:40 oh so maze runner actually fits into fallout lore now huh?

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

Saying Dylan O'Brien got hurt making this film seems like an understatement. The way I understand it, they thought he was dead. Thank goodness, he wasn't!

[@richardhoehn9922]

Love your reactions, Matt! Yeah, this was a great conclusion to the trilogy. Gally redeems himself, and so does Teresa (to a degree). I've read the first novel and plan to pick up reading the rest, think there's a whole series now, maybe even some from "Frypan's" POV. Newt's death really hit hard, but overall a great trilogy!

[@subjecta1-teresa]

I‘m such a huge fan of Teresa and I respect everyone‘s opinions! Like literally if they are respectful. And I like that you don’t go around laugh and jump and celebrate her death like others do or get happy when Janson brutally knocks her out.

[@ranniwolves]

he literally laughed at it

[@tonyquiroga7371]

Great reaction!

[@hopeurok3999]

i need euphoria 2x1 reaction like right now

[@mattyreacts]

I BEEN TRYNA UPLOAD IT SINCE TUESDAY BUT KZbin IS BEING DUMB

[@hopeurok3999]

@@mattyreacts 😭😭😭

[@angelofdeath1443]

Par rapport à Teresa elle c'est suicidé car elle ne se pardonner pas les acteurs l'ont dit

[@subjecta1-teresa]

The Kiss was also unscripted too!

[@ranniwolves]

bc it shouldn’t have happened lol thomas and teresa have no chemistry

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

@@ranniwolves I agree. No chemistry whatsoever. Indeed, for most, if not all, of the trilogy, they were opposed to one another. Personally, I think it's a possibility she may have turned Thomas into WCKD in the first place. I'll give them an emotional bond of sorts because of their shared history, but definitely no romance/love in the conventional sense. On the other hand, if you both think you're going to die, maybe you might kiss each other good-bye, thinking only of the good times and forgetting the bad.

[@angelofdeath1443]

Je suis super content j'adore cette trilogie j'ai mis mon rappel j'aurais de la bouffe parfait

[@mattyreacts]

oui un bon repas en effet, heureux que vous appréciiez les vidéos !

[@angelofdeath1443]

@@mattyreacts vous parlez français ?

[@mattyreacts]

@@angelofdeath1443 non j'ai googlé ça lol

[@mattyreacts]

i did take french in school so i know a little bit but no fluent or accurately lol

[@angelofdeath1443]

@@mattyreacts Nice

[@ohshiitake]

Any advice to someone new to jiu jitsu? My partner keeps going home covered in bruises, but they're only 2 weeks into classes🤣

[@mattyreacts]

thats awesome they started! Im only a year in but my experience with that is honestly try and choose training partner that are more calm and experienced so they dont go hard af all the time, i try and match my partners pace, if they wanna go slow and work getting the technique right then ill allow them too and match the pace, if they wanna go hard af usually ill match it but sometimes im kinda tired then so i try to be as effective as i can while spending the least amount of energy and surprisingly i do better that way sometimes lol

[@mattyreacts]

bruises are def apart of it but you can for sure minimize it by slowing down yourself and your partner as well, in my experience that is

[@user-bl5yi4uw6j]

(Before reading further, be warned there are some "Maze Runner" saga book spoilers. It's assumed you've seen all the films at this point.) Matty's reactions to this series were hilarious. His slanglish is over-the-top. I love his humour. In Scorch, when he said "who's jerking off," I thought I'd die laughing. I'm glad he enjoyed these films, though. I like them a lot, too. If you know your classics, the "Maze Runner" is a retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur, of course. I'm not alone in making this connection, but it's a surprisingly select club. That's rather sad. Naturally, Thomas is Theseus, the hero. The Glade and the Gladers are Athens and Athenian youth, respectively. The Grievers are the Minotaur, the monster that feeds on the Athenian youth who have been offered as sacrificial victims. The Minotaur is half man, half bull. The Grievers are half organic, half machine. The WCKD mechanism that's found in the crushed Griever is Ariadne's thread, the key out of the maze. WCKD is King Minos, which rather coincidentally sounds like Minho. The maze motif is repeated in the "Scorch Trials" and "Death Cure." The Glade's Athens is, however, more like "The Lord of the Flies" than classical Greece. Themes in that well-known classic include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. Things which we do see play out in Thomas and the Gladers. Consider Alby's interactions with Thomas. He sees Thomas as different, curious. He seems to be warning Thomas not to be a nonconformist. Alby makes Thomas sign a contract of sorts with the Glade by having Thomas etch his name on the wall. The crossed-out names may represent prior non-conformists. When Thomas notices them, Alby says somewhat menacingly: "Those were dark days." George's name is highlighted for us. Later, Thomas finds George's partially buried remains. Interestingly, this dark place of death is where Ben attacks Thomas. In the second film, we discover George is Brenda's brother, and George looks like Thomas. So, was George a Thomas-like precursor in the Glade? Did George break the rules and did that lead to his death? Thomas is the archetypal tragic hero. Tragic heroes are characters of elevated stature, both in birth and morality. Like most heroes, he has above-average intelligence, which means he has situational awareness; he's determined, which means he is firmly set in opinion or purpose; and he has a loyal close friend who guides, advises and helps him as he faces his trials. In the films, Newt clearly fits the role as Thomas' helper, his Ariadne. The Theseus myth also emphasizes the power of love. Ariadne helps because she has fallen in love with Theseus. As a tragic hero, Thomas is subject to a collective fate, the will of the gods, if you will, which had precipitated the solar flares that scorched the Earth and indirectly brought about the Flare virus. A common attribute of the tragic hero is that he once held a lofty position from which he has now been cast down. Thomas' hamartia has visited his own individual fate upon himself which prompts his present adventure-journey. His moral choices while part of WCKD led him to immoral behavior, the torture and deaths of his friends. In this way, Thomas assumed the role of a god over the Gladers. That's hubris. Humans, even if they're heroes, have to be taught they are not a god. Thomas' eventual rebellion precipitated his downfall and the tragic course his subsequent life followed. Tragic heroes suffer, and so Thomas suffers. He suffers because of his lost status, he suffers because of his past actions, he suffers because he's lost his identity and been condemned to the trials, he suffers because he's been betrayed, and he suffers most because of the deaths of companions he lost along his adventure-journey. Although Thomas' flaw is great, he has our sympathy, and we pity him. Ultimately Thomas' suffering leads him to an epiphany at the end of the third film. By this time, Thomas has gained the strength to accept his destiny which he will meet even if it means his death. Tragic heroes almost always die. This is without doubt what the epilogue of the final film means. Thomas is going back to the WCKD world, and he is going to offer himself up as a cure even if it means his life. Unlike the books, film Thomas is not going to remain in the Safe Haven with Brenda to live happily ever after. Even though WCKD's HQ was destroyed along with the city, there were more than one WCKD lab and installation referenced in the films. It's a pity there wasn't a fourth film made where we would see our hero, Thomas, noble to the end, achieve his ultimate destiny and be reunited with Newt in the Elysian Fields. That would have made a very good trio into a great quartet. It seems incredible but heroic stories often follow the same basic pattern. In his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Joseph Campbell, distilled the world's myths into a common structure which he called the monomyth or hero's journey. It's very concisely summarized as follows: A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. That's the "Maze Runner" film saga in a nutshell. Very broadly, the films actually do follow the outline of the books but differ in detail markedly. Personally, I prefer the films to the books. It's a matter of taste, I suppose. The books are darker than the films. That doesn't mean I didn't like the books. They held my interest, and I look forward to reading "The Fever Code." People frequently complain because a film doesn't follow a book exactly. There are obvious reasons why this is rarely possible, and it's often not even desirable. Books and films are two different art forms. There are different creative impulses at work in each. People need to understand the "Maze Runner" books and films as depicting two separate universes which, although inhabited by the same people facing similar challenges, evolve differently. They are going to diverge, and vive la difference! If all is done well, and the films were done very well, it doubles the fun. There were a couple of striking differences between the books and the films that really stood out to me. Although book Thomas may be heroic, he's not a tragic hero like film Thomas, at least in my opinion. Book Thomas often thinks things like I didn't really know those Gladers so I wasn't affected when they died in that horrible manner. Cold and unfeeling, right? That's not film Thomas at all. Book and film Thomas are two different people. Also, unlike film Thomas, it's clear book Thomas hasn't been transformed in any substantial way by the end of his adventure-journey. There's no epiphany or moment of self-realization. He's merely completed his trek. He's had adventures along the way, experienced bad times and lost travelling companions, but it's all over now, and that's that. Time to settle down. Book Thomas is more like Odysseus come back to Ithaca to be with Brenda, his Penelope. In the first film, Thomas' dream-visions hint at his backstory and make his character ambiguous. Is Gally right about him? Then there is Theresa. In our hero's adventure-journey, Theresa clearly represents the monomyth's temptress who tries to derail him. Unlike Thomas, she completely breaks the Glade's paradigm. Her arrival is untimely, she's female, and she heralds the end of the Glade's supply lifeline. Totally inauspicious. Kaya Scodelario does a good job of making her character seem suspect from the get-go. There always seems to be a mistrust-invoking aura about her. There are interesting parallels between Theresa and Thomas. Both Theresa and Thomas are betrayers. Which one is evil depends on your answer to the films' theme: Does the end justify the means? They both want a cure for the Flare. However, Theresa/WCKD are ruthless in pursuit of a cure, willing to sacrifice however many young people it takes. Thomas, on the other hand, is completely altruistic. He will sacrifice himself but not others. How can you not but admire and love Thomas? One thing about the tragic hero motif is that those nearest and dearest to the hero often wind up either in some sort of deadly peril or just plain dead. Most often, it's dead. So, as you're watching the films you might ask yourself: Who's closest to Thomas? The Flare virus is the "Maze Runner" saga's MacGuffin. Therefore, you really shouldn't try to make too much out of it. The "Maze Runner" trials mean to precisely isolate and produce the curative enzyme so humanity can be saved even if it means killing the immunes. The WCKD agenda begs the question of does the end justify the means, a principle often associated with totalitarianism, which is the central theme of the "Maze Runner." The principle is part and parcel of consequentialism, a teleological theory that says whether an action is morally good or bad depends on its outcomes. The more good outcomes outnumber the bad, the better/more moral the action. Under this rubric if WCKD finds a cure, then WCKD is very good, indeed. To sum up, these are very good and quite entertaining films which touch upon deep waters. Well-acted and well-crafted, too. The production crew and the actors together created an excellent trilogy.

[@tree6787]

Swear I hated Teresa so much.

[@Kippenn.1]

I actually liked Teresa her redemption was the best but it’s the fact that the Teresa haters forgive gally even though he killed chuck for no reason but hate on Teresa when all she did was betray them so she could save the world by making a vaccine which may I add she successfully did

[@KaizerHiwatari]

While I also liked Teresa's arc, I have to disagree that Gally killed Chuck "for no reason." A) He was trying to kill Thomas, B) He was stung by a Griever which makes you go crazy, and C) Having been stung, he got some of his memories back which included being a lab rat with Thomas on the other end (making Thomas the enemy in his mind). Teresa is just harder to forgive, honestly. When her little tattle to WICKD results in bloody carnage, she still somehow feels justified. She says "I'd do it again." That's a hard thing to overlook, even if her intentions are understandable.

[@Kippenn.1]

@@KaizerHiwatari I mean I agree but Teresa did it all too save the world although I don’t agree with how she did it she still succeeded in her plan and made the cure

[@ranniwolves]

@@Kippenn.1horrible take. teresa willingly did what she did, gally was stung