“The Scorch Trials” a trial of endurance

As I was watching yet another of too many scenes of characters climbing for their lives in “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials,” I had the following thought: You’d have to be in super good shape to survive in the world in which this movie is set. When you’re pondering the physical condition of the characters in the movie you’re watching, that’s not a good thing. It means you’re not drawn into the story. It means you’re bored.

And “The Scorch Trials” is unbearably boring. It’s so boring that getting through the movie feels like an accomplishment.

“The Scorch Trials” is the second installment of the “Maze Runner” series, and it picks up where the last movie left off. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his buddies are choppered to an installation where they’re told they are safe from the series’ big baddies, the shadowy organization, W.C.K.D.

But things aren’t what they seem, and soon Thomas is leading a veritable jailbreak. He and his friends make their way through the wasteland of the ruined outside world, hoping to hook up with The Right Arm, a rebel force resisting W.C.K.D.’s evil agenda.

This all sounds pretty exciting, but it’s mostly tedious. Our heroes run. And run. And run. When they aren’t running, they’re climbing around on ruined high-rise buildings. They rattle off completely uninspired dialogue. There’s no humor. No joy. It appears that all gallows humor disappears when society falls apart. Give me a break.

O’Brien is an appropriately hunky lead. The dude looks likes he’s carved out of stone, which could explain why his facial expression never changes. Most of the cast is similarly wooden. The only actor who really stands out is Alan Tudyk. He once soared like a leaf on the wind in the “Firefly” movie, but he’s just wasted here. And it’s painful to see the great Patricia Clarkson, who plays the doctor that heads W.C.K.D., in a movie this bad.

T.S. Nowlin’s script doesn’t do the cast any favors. The dialogue never rises above what needs to be said to advance the plot, and it’s said in the least interesting and imaginative way possible. It’s not quite listening to someone read a dictionary to you, but it’s very close.

I’d like to say something about the director, Wes Ball, but this movie feels like he was instructed to keep his personal style out of the proceedings and be as transparent as possible. The action scenes have no sizzle or tension. The movie shows us some epic imagery, but it’s imagery we’ve seen in better movies. There’s nothing in “The Scorch Trials” that sets it apart from the dozens of other cookie-cutter dystopian sci-fi flicks out there.

“Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” is as much fun as being beaten over the head with a lead pipe and slightly more interesting than watching C-SPAN. I can’t remember the last time I saw a sci-fi action movie that was so boring. I can only hope a black hole opens up and swallows the world “The Scorch Trials” takes place on, so I never have to endure this experience ever again.

1 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13