I watched the last part of "Maze Runner" with trepidation, the finale "Death Antidote". Because I like this theme very much, I am afraid that the film will not be adapted well, and it will end in a bad ending. While some of the details were less than satisfactory, the overall visuals and the adapted story didn't disappoint me.
Let's talk about the maze first. The labyrinth is a major fantasy element of the novel and the movie, a main background that draws people into the plot, but it is not just a physical labyrinth, nor is it the whole story. Corresponding to the maze is exploration, exploring the road in the maze, exploring the structure of the maze, the source of the maze, and exploring the world outside the maze and the further unknown; corresponding to the maze is resistance, the limited maze binds you , you have to break through this man-made or natural labyrinth through various efforts and choices. Therefore, the labyrinth is an entity and also has an abstract meaning. The back of the story naturally leaves the labyrinth of this entity and develops into the outside world. In addition, due to various reasons, "The Maze Runner" was translated into "The Maze Runner" in mainland China. I don't think there is any problem with this kind of translation. The titles of film and television works do not have to be translated literally. For example, "Gone with the wind" is translated into "Gone with the Wind", and "Jaw" is translated into "Jaws". But the audience's understanding is different. Some people quit and say that the movie is called "Maze Runner", and we are here to watch the maze. From the beginning to the end of the movie, there are not many pictures of the maze. You are not lying. Maybe just like some people like to explore tunnels and caves, some people like to watch mazes. They buy tickets to see the maze. Your movie has a maze in the title, but it doesn't appear in the movie. As a result, such audiences without exception gave various bad reviews to the film. From the second to the third, they kept shouting "Where is my labyrinth" and "Where is the good labyrinth?" Some even said "neither 'move' nor saw 'maze'". It seems that the name of the movie in the future must consider the appearance rate of the movie name in the movie. It is best to name the movie after the protagonist, otherwise some people will always feel deceived and will give you bad reviews. Regardless of the name, if all three movies are running around in the maze, I don't know if these people who are shouting for the maze will be bored, but I will. If the movie was really made like that, I don't know what it would be like to be scolded.
Then compare it to the original novel. Like the movie, the original novel is a trilogy, but a prequel has since been released. The plot of the trilogy is generally similar to the movie, but the details are quite different. But the first book of the original has more descriptions of the labyrinth. The second part is more in line with the title "Scorched Earth Test". After escaping the maze, the friends barely escaped the control of WICKED, and they were divided into two groups to accept a series of tests in the desert. In the third part, a few friends escaped from the laboratory, and finally went back to save other immunized people. Those immunized people were placed in many of the same mazes as the first part. So the protagonist and others hurriedly walked through the maze again in a very short space. But there is no antidote in the original book. The last hope of mankind is not the antidote, but these naturally evolved immune people. Dr. Peggy stopped at the last moment and transported the immunized friends to a relatively safe place. I didn’t read the prequels, but it probably means that the population pressure of the world will be very high in the future, so the government will artificially create a virus to kill some people, but it seems that there is no cure, so it gets out of control, and it evolves into a later story.
Let's talk about the theme of my personal understanding. I think if combined with the prequels, the whole story is similar to the Resident Evil that just ended last year. It is all to reduce the population artificially get the virus, the virus spreads, the death of ordinary people, and the infection of infection. Then the ruler wants to rule the world through the antidote. The difference is that the nobles in Resident Evil are more careful in their work. They have developed antiviral antidote in advance, and they are frozen and hid themselves, and then put the virus to poison the masses. And the government in the moving labyrinth is relatively brainless, spreading a virus that it can't control and almost causing human extinction (if there are no naturally evolved immune people, human beings will be extinct). Of course, in contrast, the nobles in Resident Evil are more evil. And although the government in the moving labyrinth carried out various experiments with immunized people inhumanely, it did not say at the beginning that the antidote would only be used by the upper class, and it was only when Jensen took the antidote that he said, "I can decide. Who lives and who dies...". But do the few upper-class people really have the right to control the fate and life and death of others? (Writing here, I am also puzzled. Isn’t the fate of many people in the hands of a few people in life? But restraint will always inspire exploration, and oppression will always lead to resistance. I believe that continuous exploration and resistance will bring more stability institutions and higher civilizations) no. The future of mankind should be chosen by nature, and should be jointly created by all mankind, not designed by a few people.
Another reason to like this series is that life is like a maze, constantly facing various tests, and each choice determines the trajectory of the future.
Off topic:
Talk about the deaths of Newt and Teresa. In the original work, Newt was selected as a representative of no immunity due to the addition of the plot of the group comparison experiment. But the main story line in the film is the fight against WICKED, and Newt's death becomes unnecessary. Teresa has replaced Dr. Pagie as the representative of WICKED since the second part: the idea of forcibly sacrificing a small number of people to find the antidote. There is nothing wrong with looking for an antidote per se, but the way in which the antidote is found. If a more gentle way is adopted, I believe that countless immunized people will cooperate voluntarily. Many people say that immune people do not have the spirit of self-sacrifice. I would like to ask you to go to the terrifying maze in which you will die tragically at any time. Even if you want to go, you can't force others to go. Everyone has the right to choose voluntarily, why must they be forced to sacrifice themselves to save others. So although Teresa is not for any self-interest, but it has killed so many people, and it is not easy to die.
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