The Scorch Film Analysis

More often than not, movies based upon novels are disappointing when the two are compared. Readers of James Dashner's The Scorch Trials are most likely appalled at how little the movie follows along with the book. The readers go in expecting to finally see the interpretation of the story they had previously experienced in their heads, only to be let down by how many of their favorite chapters were left out. The dripping metal ball scene, the "safe haven," and the lack of romance between Teresa and Thomas are just a few of the reader's favorite parts from Dashner's book that were cut from Wes Ball's movie adaptation.

First, the dripping metal ball scene is left out entirely. Perhaps better thought of as the "metal balls of decapitation," readers are looking forward to finding out exactly what the screenwriters thought this scene should be like. In the end of chapter 14, the Gladers are walking down a seemingly endless, pitch black hallway when one of the other boys scream. Thomas and the others rush toward the cries of the boy to investigate. When Thomas reaches for the boy's face, all he feels is "a large and perfectly smooth ball of cold metal" (Dashner 79). This is the first death in Dashner’s book, making

In the novel, the Safe Haven is described as "a simple stick poking out of the arid ground” (Dashner 319). This heavily contrasts to the depiction in Wes Ball’s movie. According to the film, the Safe Haven was called “The Right Arm.” It is a group of people that set up a camp in the mountains. These are all people who have not been infected with The Flare. These people have been hiding and running from W.I.C.K.E.D (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department) for a long time. They are also using the blood of the “immune” to create a method of slowing the spread of The Flare. This is completely different than what Dashner wrote