The second installment in The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials was surprisingly good for the YA disaster franchise. It hit theaters this past Friday and it was exciting, well written and had pretty good acting. While it may be charting the waters currently shared by films like The Hunger Games and The Divergent series, The Scorch Trials manages to set itself ever so slightly apart.

I hadn’t seen the first Maze Runner and I hadn’t planned on seeing the second one, but fate decided to give a friend of mine pre-screening passes and I had to say yes. A free movie with a very attractive cast is hard to pass up. As it turned out, we were one of the first audiences to get a peek at the new film. The action starts immediately and while I may not have had the proper context I was drawn in. Thomas and his crew are running from WCKD and they are rescued by mysterious forces. The rest of the movie did not disappoint. There was a little bit of mystery, little bit of mystery, a decent handful of humor and so much suspense and action. By the end I felt kind of inspired.

Dylan O’Brien and Kaya Scodelario worked off of each other really well as well as with the rest of their supporting cast. Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dexter Darden and Ki Hong Lee functioned as both ways to keep the story from flattening and as comedic relief. Patricia Clarkson and Aidan Gillen play the bad people so well. Clarkson is the righteous antagonist all dressed in white. Gillen just has something about his on-screen demeanor (as a Game of Thrones fan, I immediately said “that bastard” when he came on screen)  that just works. While keeping track of references to the first film may have gotten confusing (there was mentioning of a Gally), it didn’t take away from the movie at hand. As someone who didn’t see the first movie, The Scorch Trials felt almost like a stand alone movie. And on top of that it was quite the thrill ride.