Run run Runaways

I have been enjoying binge-ing (bingeing? binging?) Marvel's Runaways on Hulu, so much so that I've also read the first two trade paperback collections as well.  I like to know the source material, although I'm not a big comics reader.  I'm not well-suited to it: I read very quickly and I don't give the artwork enough attention.  But the television has been a lot of fun and I'm glad to have had both perspectives.

For those who don't know, Runaways (written by Brian K. Vaughn et als.) is about a group of runaway kids who discover that their parents are a secret and very evil cabal of Los Angeles millionaires.  After seeing their parents sacrifice a young girl, they run away and adventures follow.  The girls have superpowers - Nico is/becomes a witch, Gert has a telepathic link to a sentient dinosaur, Molly has super-strength, etc. - and the boys are smart and/or assisted by tech stolen from their parents.  Nico is my favorite character in both the show and the comics; I also like sarcastic Gert  (especially the show's iteration) and her dinosaur, Old Lace.

PC: Ars Technica

While the show hews closely to some of the source material, it varies wildly in some regards.  I'm being vague on purpose as I don't want to spoil anything.  In the show, the parents are much, much better developed.  I find this to be a double-edged sword, however: the character development makes them much better villains ... but I also resent time spent away from the kids.  I like the kids.

I only have one episode left and then I'm up to speed on the series.  I'm torn as to what to watch next.  It would make sense to move straight to Cloak and Dagger, as that is also based on a Marvel comic that has connections to/crossovers with Runaways.  But over on Netflix, the new Dark Crystal series is out (and I love The Dark Crystal) plus I'm starting to get in the mood for horror movies in advance of this year's Scarelicious October Movie Series.  What to do, what to do.

Mini movie review: The Scorch Trials

Although there is no longer any maze in The Scorch Trials, part two of The Maze Runner trilogy, there sure is a lot of running.  This sequel starts up mere moments after the end of the first movie and protagonist Thomas and his dwindling band of maze survivors/escapees basically start running and don't stop until the end: running down corridors of the base they're taken to after being "rescued" at the end of TMR; running across the desert; running through city ruins; running through an abandoned mall; running across the desert ahead of a nasty electrical storm; running through the ruins of a fallen skyscraper ... it's exhausting, if only for the sheer repetition.  Instead of giant mecha-spiders, the kids are running from evil scientists who want to experiment on them, from evil gang members who want to sell them back to the scientists and from fast zombies former humans afflicted by whatever virus has decimated the planet.  As such, the tone of the movie swings wildly from chase-thriller to near horror to dusty post-apocalyptic gun battle in the mountains.

Where The Maze Runner was a decent B movie, The Scorch Trials doesn't quite get there.  What dialogue there is is trite and despite having spent two movie with many of the main characters, we still don't really know anything about them.  Lili Taylor is wasted in a small role, while Giancarlo Esposito at least looks like he's enjoying blowing shit up.

Production on the third movie in the series is on indefinite hold, following a stunt accident that injured star Dylan O'Brien fairly severely: concussion and broken bones in his face but not life-threatening.  I'd like to hope the extra time will allow the production team to up their game a bit for the final installment but I'm not hopeful: well-rounded characters uttering meaningful dialogue is probably not going to happen at this point - so if what you like is running and shouting, you'll likely be in luck.

Mini movie review: The Maze Runner

Here's another post-apocalyptic dystopian YA novel-turned-movie for you, along the lines of The Hunger Games except there's no love triangle (no love interest at all - amazing!) and no one emerging with Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss charisma.  I don't know how much of that is due to the source material, however: THG books are so strong; I don't know anything about The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. Still, TMR is a decent little movie, even if it fizzles out towards the end.

Thomas (our hero) wakes up, retching and amnesiac, in a subterranean elevator as it rocks to the earth's surface.  Once above ground, he is met by a group of boys/young men who are trapped in a wooded glade surrounded by a shifting, murderous stone maze.  The boys have set up a nice little society in the three years they have been there: building living quarters, assigning jobs; following rules.  Thomas (who remembers his name but nothing else in a day or so) immediately starts questions things: who keeps sending boys to the surface once a month in that elevator?  Who were the boys before?  Where are they?  Who made the maze? And most importantly, how the hell do they get out of here?  Thomas earns a job as one of the titular maze runners: fast, brave and clever boys who go out into the Maze every day, memorizing its layout.  Within no time at all, Thomas has upset the status quo by surviving a night in the Maze, killing one of the giant, robotic/flesh spider monsters called greavers, and figuring out how to escape.  As expected, his actions shake up the fragile glade society.  But Thomas has sparked something in many of the other boys and they make a break for it.

None of the characters are all that deeply developed and the dialogue isn't anything to write home about.  But The Maze Runner is a passable entry into the genre, particularly since it isn't dragged down with the romance typically inserted in other YA science fiction.   The plot moves steadily forward; the named characters are distinguishable and relatable; the action, while depending overmuch on CGI (see above re: giant robot spider monsters), is decent, if a little confusing and dim sometimes.  My biggest issue is with the very ending where after keeping my attention for the run-time, the movie has no sort of resolution for its characters, instead going out on a "this story will be continued in the SEQUEL so no point in resolving anything NOW" note.  The Maze Runner did pique my interest enough to add the SEQUEL to my Netflix queue tho, so well-played, movie.