Story
As humanity is threatened by a deadly virus, Maze Runner: The Death Cure begins with virus-immune Thomas (Dylan O’Brian) and a band of rebels carrying out a raid on a prison train. They hope to rescue Thomas’s best friend, Minho (Ki Hong Lee), and other virus-immune young people. Minho and the other captives are being used as lab rats by a totalitarian organisation known as W.C.K.D. (Wicked), which performs torture-like experiments to find a cure for the virus. Many of the prisoners are rescued, but Minho is not one of them. Thomas later learns that Minho has been taken to world’s last remaining city, a walled fortress controlled by W.C.K.D.
Not wanting to put his friends at risk, Thomas sets off by himself but he’s soon joined by Frypan (Dexter Darden), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito). Along the way they battle with bands of virus-infected humans until they make it to the walled city. At this point Thomas must confront demons from his past, because the only way into the city is with the help of the resistance’s greatest traitor, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario). With Teresa’s reluctant help they get into the high security area where Minho is being held prisoner. But the rescue attempt has unexpected outcomes and sacrifices.
Themes
Fatal viruses; the extinction of humanity; resistance fighters; self-sacrifice
Violence
Maze Runner: The Death Cure contains intense sequences of violence, including close-ups of deaths and some psychological torture. There are some gruesome images. For example:
Sexual references
Nothing of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Maze Runner: The Death Cure shows some use of substances. For example:
- A woman sits at a table with a glass and a bottle of scotch next to her. A man enters and says, ‘Taking the edge off, I see’.
- A young man injects a guard with a tranquilizer, and the guard falls to the ground unconscious.
- A young man strapped to a table is injected with a hallucinogenic drug.
Nudity and sexual activity
Nothing of concern
Product placement
Nothing of concern
Coarse language
Maze Runner: The Death Cure has some coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Maze Runner: The Death Cure is the third and last movie in the Maze Runner trilogy , so it’s likely to interest fans of the previous two movies and of the books on which the series is based.
This movie has several violent and disturbing scenes, so it’s most suited to older teenagers and young adults. It isn’t recommended for children under 13 years, and we recommend parental guidance for children aged 13-15 years.
These are main messages from this movie, which you could talk about with your children:
- You should finish what you start, but there’s a difference between giving up and knowing when you have lost.
- There’s no justification for sacrificing another person’s life for the greater good or to benefit humanity.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, trust and cooperation.