Movie · 2018 · Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Thriller · 2h 23m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 2.3/10 (766.4K ratings)
The end will be WCKD.
Overview
Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.3/10
IMDb: 6.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.24/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 42%
Metacritic: 50
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Wes Ball
Production
The Gotham Group, Temple Hill Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Oddball Entertainment, TSG Entertainment
Cast
Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Dexter Darden, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Poulter, Aidan Gillen, Patricia Clarkson, Barry Pepper, Walton Goggins, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jacob Lofland, Katherine McNamara, Dylan Smith, Jake Curran, Dylan Kriek, Scot Cooper, Kazi Maubert
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A brisk, emotionally charged YA sci-fi finale with strong momentum, solid production design, and a surprisingly melodramatic streak. It’s uneven and often rushed, but if you’re attached to the characters and want a high-stakes escape-mission capper, it delivers enough spectacle and feeling to work.
Best for
fans of dystopian YA action-adventure
viewers who want fast-paced chase and siege set pieces
audiences invested in the Thomas/Newt emotional arc
people who like earnest, overblown franchise finales
Skip if
you want tightly plotted sci-fi
you’re not already attached to the series
you dislike melodrama or teen-franchise earnestness
you need polished world-building over momentum
Overview
The Death Cure is the rare franchise finale that feels more interested in emotional payoff than clean logic, and that gives it a scrappy kind of appeal. It moves quickly, leans hard into rescue-mission mechanics, and keeps the stakes personal even when the plot gets crowded with betrayals, escapes, and last-minute reversals.
Worth noting
Wes Ball stages the action with more confidence than the material sometimes deserves, and the movie has a grim, propulsive energy that suits its post-apocalyptic setting. The production design sells the Last City as a militarized nightmare, while the cast keeps the relationships alive even when the script is racing to wrap everything up.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the film’s emotional volatility: loyalty, grief, sacrifice, and the series-long bond between the survivors. It’s messy, sometimes absurd, and occasionally unintentionally funny, but for viewers already on board, that intensity is part of the appeal.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Sheikha Alhilaly (2.5★) · 8934 likes
that letter at the end was the gayest thing I’ve ever witnessed and I’ve seen call me by your name.
miranda todd (3.5★) · 8816 likes
i will literally never forgive thomas for having the AUDACITY to carve teresa’s name into the rock during newt’s letter smh
Betty (3.5★) · 7939 likes
teresa so could’ve jumped if she wasn’t so fucking useless
elysia (3★) · 5772 likes
homophobia is thomas reading newt’s declaration of love and the shot cutting to thomas scratching his ex’s name into the rock ABOVE newt’s
Diego Vera (2★) · 4502 likes
When teresa died me and all my friends started clapping