The Maze Runner

It's rare for a big movie studio to trust the future of a potential blockbuster franchise to a brand-new director. You'd imagine that there would be just too much at stake when it came to translating James Dashner's series of best-selling dystopian novels to the silver screen. But it's easy to see why Wes Ball got the job - with this one film, he graduates from short films to blockbuster movies with flair to spare. Indeed, The Maze Runner is such a cool, confident and thrilling blend of action beats and character work that it's hard to believe Ball has never before commandeered a full- length feature film. It's true that the narrative gets a little away from him by the end, making less sense as more secrets are revealed. But this is more a problem with the source material than Ball's own skills as a director.

Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) finds himself thrust rudely into the world of the Glade: a community of boys who have figured out how to live while encircled by a giant, constantly changing maze, within which dwell giant, boy-eating monsters known only as Grievers. Many of the boys, including benevolent pioneer Alby (Aml Ameen) and champion of the old ways Gally (Will Poulter), are content with just surviving day to day. Thomas winds up unsettling the entire camp with his refusal to follow the rules and determination to ask questions: he wants to explore the Maze with designated runners like Minho (Ki Hong Lee), and figure out a way to get free. Life in the camp gets more complicated when, weeks before the next boy is due to be sent up to the Glade, a girl in the form of Theresa (Kaya Scodelario) arrives instead.

There's a lot of blockbuster potential to be squeezed out of this premise, and Ball does so quite wonderfully. The Maze encircling the Glade is a stonily grey, massive enclosure, and the Grievers - when the boys encounter them in increasingly close quarters - are odd marvels made as much of machine as flesh. Ball cuts scenes of great, heart-stopping tension together masterfully: whether it's Thomas running through walls that are fast closing in on him, or Thomas and Minho trying to outrun a Griever while burdened with an unconscious Alby.

The film even finds some welcome dramatic depth in this strange little community of lost boys in the Glade - Thomas' growing antagonism with Gally is balanced against the mutual respect he and Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) develop for each other, and the brotherly connection that he forges with the adorable Chuck (Blake Cooper). The politics of the situation is fascinating as well: as much as The Maze Runner is about, well, running for your life in a giant maze, it also raises big questions about identity and integrity. Is safety and security worth giving up your right to information and choice?

What works less well is the secret around which the Glade is constructed. As viewers, we aren't given a whole lot of answers about why the Glade and the Maze exists, nor do we get many explanations as to why Thomas is so different and insatiably curious. But the ones we do get - all centred around the mysterious, severe figure of Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) in some kind of control centre - oddly render the film and its characters less, rather than more, interesting. It's a strangely deflating experience to have the film's rich ethical dilemmas and intense action sequences give way to an underlying dystopian narrative that isn't really all that compelling.

Nevertheless, The Maze Runner remains quite an accomplishment. It's an assured, impressive debut for Ball, one with enough electric tension and moody drama to intrigue throughout its running time. His young cast is fully capable of carrying their own weight, with Poulter - morphing from comic sidekick in We're The Millers into hateful adversary here - the standout. Its story collapses a little into itself as it hurtles towards its climax, but Ball's work is quite enough to leave viewers excited by the prospect of the inevitable sequel.

Not bad!

The good performance of some actors, special effects and the mystery of the environment in which they found themselves is enough to keep the audience interested. It also has a good direction that didn't put the typical teenage romance, that can be so tiring.

However, in my opinion, "The Maze Runner" is unable to get it to be thrilling.The film comes to an end without knowing the answer to several questions in order to make room for the second film.

So I will be waiting for a new episode and news surprises from Wes Ball and T.S. Nowlin in "Scorch Trials" :)

what can i say. i LOVED this film.

yeah sure, it has a *few* weak points and maybe a plot hole or two. And the acting is barebones, these are kids, not Cyrano De Bergerac or Mephistofele, but boy the film is well done.

I mistakenly googled the film's name before it was over, and disappointed myself to learn that it's just the first of three parts, so it means waiting another 2-3 years for the other two films, but that means also that i have something to look forward to.

Now, i normally like more "profound" films, but for once, i really enjoyed this sci-fi romp and no, it's nothing like Twilight. A couple of the characters (Gally, Chuck) are phoned in, but then again, how would you write this kind of plot without these characters getting thrown in?

So the film is a very pleasant, well paced, well directed, reasonably well acted, decently scored, great .. well, nice CGI, entertaining film that will please just about every audience there is, without being horribly commercial, soppy and cliché.

I haven't had this much fun in a long while - although i gotta say Edge OF Tomorrow was just as good.

My final vote - a very solid 8/10, and I'm wishing for parts 2 and 3 ASAP.

19 October 2014. The Maze Runner combines The Hunger Games (2012), Cube (1997), with Lord of the Flies (1990) into a rather fascinating mystery thriller for boys. For most of the movie, the consistency of theme and plot holds up well. The tension, the ever presence ominous sounds of the maze offers up a dread that is pervasively creepy. The stereotypical characters aren't usually overplayed and the over the top performances or plot points are mostly held back using instead more empathetic and humanistic portrayals.

The ending seems like a cop out for a hoped for sequel unfortunately. And there a few moments that really do fall back into the stereotypical plot design. The humor however makes their appearances with to great effect though. This is more enjoyable movie than expected. It just misses out though being really innovative and can't quite break out of the mold of most of the other sci fi thrillers.

The film The Maze Runner is based off the three book series written by author James Dashner.

As post-apocalyptic films adapted from YA novels go, and there have been many, The Maze Runner might be the most successful of the 2014 year.

The film opens on a young teen, seemingly kidnapped against his will and unclear of what he is doing. His body, limp on the floor of a openly woven caged box, rises up to the sun and grass where he promptly meets a crowd of his peers, all male. Talking with them he discovers he is exactly like them, unknowingly in this location, his memory erased with only his name available to him, it is Thomas.

He soon discovers the grassy area's perimeter is completely encapsulated by steeply high concrete walls, beyond which is a maze. The goal is to figure out the maze as it is the only way to freedom.

The Maze Runner uses young up-and-comer actors and actresses rather than the obvious and nepotistic decision. Dylan O'Brien does a superb job as the newbie Thomas and Aml Ameen is especially captivating as the leader of the stranded survivors Alby. The primarily British young actors also do a splendid job of masking their native accents for a neutrally American vocal pattern.

Further, Wes Ball's direction of The Maze Runner has a clear vision as it emulates a vastly PG-er Lord of the Flies vibe. The beauty of the film is its simplicity. Since the children and teens are locked in an experimental cage, there is no need for monotonous information delivery regarding the futuristic world. There's no futuristic dialect, class system, government changes or anything of the type.