The Maze Runner (***)
Directed by: Wes Ball
Starring: Dylan O’Brien,
Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee,
Blake Cooper, Joe Adler, Patricia Clarkson
Seen: October 7th 2014
*** Out of ****
In the vein of the recent incursion of young
adult themed novels being translated to the bigscreen, The Maze Runner is the
start of another intended series of movies following in the footsteps of movies
with somewhat similar themes as The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Divergent. Like
the other movies, The Maze Runner pits a group of teenagers/young adults
against something they cannot truly and properly fathom; in this case a memory
wipe and being locked up in the middle of a massive maze.
The Maze Runner opens with Thomas
(O’Brien) being lifted up into a large square in a lift, the only thing
mechanical in sight. The lift doors open above him, and a group of boys/young
men help him out while also going for the supplies that was in the lift with
Thomas, sent by their unknown benefactor/control figure. Thomas has no memory,
and only remembers his name a while later, after being properly accosted by all
the refugees of the square. Alby (Ameen) is the leader, as he was first; Newt
(Brodie-Sangster) is his second in command; and Gally (Poulter) is the
self-imposed muscle. Thomas notices that the square has an exit, but when he attempts
to investigate, Gally beats him back. The exit leads into the maze, and only
the runners can go in there. The runners, among them Minho (Lee), are the
heroes among the refugees, as they are their hope for finding a way out. They’ve
been mapping the maze for a long time, and they’ve realised that the maze
rearranges itself regularly but in a specific and repeating sequence.
The maze closes at night, with creatures
roaming the maze after dark and no one has ever returned after being locked out
overnight. It so happens that the runners run into some trouble and cannot
quite make it back in time one evening, and Thomas runs into the maze as the
door shuts to help Alby and Minho. They run into trouble in the maze, but they
also make a discovery that once again reignites their hopes at escaping from
the maze when they survive the night. When a girl, Teresa (Scodelario) is sent
up in the elevator for the first time with a note attached, things start
rapidly changing, and the group must gamble and venture into the maze in a bid
to finally escape.
The Maze Runner is an impressive
production, with a smart visual impact that gets a tantalizing boost when the
conclusion rolls around, laying the groundwork for the next movie already in
production. The Maze Runner is Wes Ball’s first movie as director, and he does
an admirable job of bringing the story to life. Unlike the first Hunger Games
movie where I felt that the book was required to fully appreciate the movie (I
read that series before seeing the movies), The Maze Runner stands solidly on
its own – as its story is not as complex, which is not to say that it is
inferior. It will still have to significantly pick up its game to reach the
lofty heights of the second Hunger Games movie, as that was truly good. The
young actors are all impressive and as viewer you are highly unlikely to have
any doubts about their performances; instead they draw you into the story and
towards caring for the characters. The Maze Runner was better than I expected
it to be, and I am expectantly awaiting the next installments in this series.
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