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Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials poster

Movies that feel likeMaze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching 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.

If you loved Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the closest films we have are Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014). All three share Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' cerebral and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is War of the Worlds (2005).

🍅 47% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Wes Ballcerebralkinetictenseepicbleak
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Maze Runner (2014) · Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes poster
🍅 80%★ 6.8science fiction · adventure · actionPrime Video

The same director's ruined-world trek, scaled up from Gladers to apes

The difference: Slower and more solemn — a saga chapter, not a sprint

Several generations following Caesar's reign, apes – now the dominant species – live harmoniously while humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all he's known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

Terminator: Dark Fate poster
Terminator: Dark Fate
2019 · dir. Tim Miller
🍅 70%★ 6.2science fiction · action · adventureParamount+

Relentless pursuit across a world the machines already broke

The difference: Legacy-franchise baggage — its heart is with the older heroes

Decades after Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, a lethal new Terminator is sent to eliminate the future leader of the resistance. In a fight to save mankind, battle-hardened Sarah Connor teams up with an unexpected ally and an enhanced super soldier to stop the deadliest Terminator yet.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 poster
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
2014 · dir. Francis Lawrence
🍅 70%★ 6.6science fiction · adventure · thrillerNetflix

YA rebellion shifting from survival story into open resistance

The difference: Mostly setup and speeches — the action is saved for Part 2

After surviving the Quarter Quell, Katniss finds herself in the hidden stronghold of District 13, where the rebellion against the Capitol is gaining momentum. Struggling with the weight of becoming the symbol of resistance, she must navigate fragile alliances while trying to protect those she loves. As propaganda battles rage and Panem moves closer to full-scale war, Katniss is forced to confront the true cost of revolution.

The Book of Eli poster
The Book of Eli
2010 · dir. Allen Hughes
🍅 46%★ 6.8action · thriller · science fiction

One dangerous route across a lawless wasteland, threats at every stop

The difference: A lone drifter's slow burn — faith parable, not group escape

A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

TRON: Legacy poster
TRON: Legacy
2010 · dir. Joseph Kosinski
🍅 51%★ 6.8adventure · action · science fictionDisney+

Common ground: dystopia

The difference: Goes its own way on the tension

Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy and daring son of Kevin Flynn, investigates his father's disappearance and is pulled into The Grid. With the help of a mysterious program named Quorra, Sam quests to stop evil dictator Clu from crossing into the real world.

War of the Worlds poster
War of the Worlds
2005 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 76%★ 6.6adventure · thriller · science fictionMaxApple TV+

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dystopia

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.

The 5th Wave poster
The 5th Wave
2016 · dir. J Blakeson
🍅 16%★ 5.2science fiction · adventure · actionNetflix

Teens surviving an apocalypse that keeps changing its rules

The difference: Weaker execution — the ideas outrun the filmmaking

16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.

RoboCop poster
RoboCop
2014 · dir. José Padilha
🍅 50%★ 6.1action · science fiction · thriller

A slick corporate dystopia where the system is the villain

The difference: Urban satire locked to one city — no wasteland, no escape plot

In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.

Divergent poster
Divergent
2014 · dir. Neil Burger
🍅 41%★ 6.6action · adventure · science fiction

The same mix in both: ideas, then momentum

In a world divided into factions based on personality types, Tris learns that she's been classified as Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.

Surrogates poster
Surrogates
2009 · dir. Jonathan Mostow
🍅 37%★ 6.3science fiction · action · thriller

Both land tension and bleakness at once

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.

Total Recall poster
Total Recall
2012 · dir. Len Wiseman
🍅 30%★ 6.2action · science fiction · thriller

Both lean on ideas more than on science fiction

Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.

Death Race poster
Death Race
2008 · dir. Paul W. S. Anderson
🍅 41%★ 6.4action · thriller · science fictionStarz

Action built on momentum, twice over

Terminal Island, New York: 2020. Overcrowding in the US penal system has reached a breaking point. Prisons have been turned over to a monolithic Weyland Corporation, which sees jails full of thugs as an opportunity for televised sport. Adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for violence and a spectacular, enclosed arena come together to form the 'Death Race', the biggest, most brutal event.

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