Review: 'The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials' Starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Aiden Gillen, More

Adults are just the absolute worst in “The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials,” yet another tween-targeting science-fiction film that posits grown-ups as the root cause of adolescents’ every problem. Last year’s franchise-initiating installment was a cut above its subgenre brethren mainly because its story – about a boy named Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) who wakes up, without a memory, in a glen surrounded by a giant deadly maze – was a self-contained affair, free of the fanciful gobbledygook mythology that defines sagas like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent.” Director Wes Ball’s adaptation of the second book in author James Dashner’s popular series is the exact opposite of its predecessor, presenting a sprawling adventure that, when not liberally cribbing from more illustrious sci-fi forefathers, spends plentiful time fleshing out the dull details of its oppressed-youth scenario.

Picking up where the previous film left off, 'The Scorch Trials' opens with Thomas and his friends being...