Maze Runner: Scorch Trials - C+

Rated PG-13, 129 minutes

There's been such a glut of YA adaptations in the last few years, they all tend to run together, using the same formula of a young, handsome lead being antagonized for the greater good of humankind. The 2014 hit "The Maze Runner" was one of the better of these, though it certainly has shades of "Hunger Games" and especially "Divergent," with its modestly entertaining but lackluster sequel, "The Scorch Trials" even more so. It's too long and lacks the creepy originality of the first one (no mazes here at all), but if you liked that one you'll enjoy this one too. In this chapter, Thomas ("Teen Wolf's" Dylan O'Brien) and his fellow Gladers search for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD's vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all. Directed by Wes Ball and written T.S. Nowlin and loosely based on James Dashner Young Adult novel of the same name, this overlong dystopian-inspired film is mildly entertaining yet muddled with an unoriginal sheen inspired by its more well-known predecessors, with a heavy dose of "Walking Dead" zombies (who really, really like to run, and very fast) for good measure. O'Brien grounds the film well, though his colleagues are given less to do this time around, and upstaged by the chief antagonists, Aidan Gillen from "Game of Thrones," and underrated character actress Patricia Clarkson, doing her stylish Kate Winslet "Divergent"-esque turn here as the villain with some ulterior motives. Fans of the novel series will also notice substantial departures from Dashner's book, and those changes make it more difficult to follow, especially in its uneven middle act, when it tends to wander and a variety of different colorful characters arrive on the scene; it's also unclear (and likely be explained in the next installment, which is already in pre-production) as to why so much time is spent hunting down these young folks across the desert. "The Scorch Trials," which goes on about 20 minutes too long, is really for fans for the book, who'll most appreciate the uneven film than the rest of us.