A thrifty series of cliff-hangers

In Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the title character finds he has been wait-listed once again for the post-post-apocalypse.

So, too, are the other specially selected young folks who, along with leader Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) strive, via a series of orchestrated ordeals, for admission to a rumored promised land. Obstacles include giant man-eating ants and walls that close and crush.

Everything is pass/fail, but if you fail, you usually die.

"They gave us all a bunch of tests, and then they separated us," says Thomas' new friend Brenda (Rosa Salazar) in Scorch Trials, explaining how she lost contact with her brother.

This jibes with Thomas' assessment of the labyrinth he escaped in the first movie: "It's not a maze. It's a test."

You find this freighted spectacle of competition/attrition/matriculation - much of it violent - at the center of popular teen literature and cinema these days.

Who wants to see teens subjected to these awful calamities? Anyone, of course, who's raised one. But the books and movies appeal primarily to the teens themselves.

They are a generation of maze runners, argues author Megan Erickson in her book, Class War: The Privatization of Childhood. As class mobility has declined, she writes, a desperate competition for limited opportunities has ensued - "a competitive 'hunger games' for the material resources and social connections required to secure economic success."

Should we be surprised that young people are seeking out books and movies that reflect this mercenary process? Erickson cites The Hunger Games, though it's worth mentioning that Suzanne Collins' books were predated by James Dashner's Maze Runner series.

As a movie franchise, Maze Runner is regarded as a weak sister to the hugely profitable Hunger Games, but in Scorch Trials, the franchise is finding its feet.

The movie is directed by Wes Ball with consistent action-movie competence. Scorch Trials is a series of cliff-hangers presented in a manner that's thrifty, nimble, not too burdened by lazy effects.

The sequel begins with Thomas and friends in the apparent safety of an underground facility, manned by troops and physicians and administered by adults. In charge, however, is Aidan Gillen, an actor whose smile has come to stand for a cunning, deceptive charm. Thomas smells a rat, and makes off with his pals for a rumored refuge somewhere in nearby mountains, beyond the sunbaked "scorch," where the usual gauntlet of terrors awaits.

Threats include a zombie underclass, a band of desert pirates, a community of lotus-eaters, and an armed band of prepper survivalists.

Director Ball understands action and also casting. He peppers his movie with small, vivid roles for Gillen, Giancarlo Esposito, Alan Tudyk, and Barry Pepper. These pros help give the movie gravity.

I especially liked Salazar as the ferocious young lady who looms as a possible new love interest for Thomas (O'Brien himself has become a better actor).

Thomas still has feelings for Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), for whom he labors to save from the clutches of merciless adults who prize the teens for their valuable DNA.

Teresa, a willowy, blue-eyed brunet, has become withdrawn and vaguely troubled. In Scorch Trials, we find her standing atop rock outcroppings, looking with fretful gaze into the distance, as if she sees some bitter future.

Brenda seems like more fun and less work. But for Thomas, this is at least one multiple-choice test with nothing but correct answers.

A, B, or all of the above.

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Directed by Wes Ball. With Dylan O'Brien, Rosa Salazar, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Running time: 2 hours, 11 mins.

Parent's guide: PG-13 (violence and action, some thematic elements, substance use, language).

Playing at: area theaters.

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