Maze Runner - Il labirinto

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.

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.

Although The Maze Runner story isn't one of the brilliants I have seen, it is interesting enough to satisfy my interest. Opening scene is intriguing and wakes your interest to wait to see what to come. Story itself is many times seen in various movies, but citation to such movies as Cube and TV- shows like Lost keeps you interest awake about what to come. Biggest problem is the movie casting. Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) is interesting character enough, but Will Boultier as villain of story is too lame personality. And somehow I don't understand the meaning of Teresa's (Kaya Scolecario) character who seem to pointless for the whole story. Maybe her role for the story grows and clears at the forthcoming movies. Sequel is coming next fall. After all great scenery combined with intensive storytelling is fresh enough to bring this movie a little bit more interesting, than most of those Hollywood's post-apocalyptic serial productions these days. I stay wait sequel with great interest.

My immediate thought while watching The Maze Runner was just how close the whole premise was to Vincent Natali's sci-fi horror Cube (1997), both films featuring a group of people who wake to find themselves in a strange environment with no memory of how they got there. The big difference is that, where Cube was a brilliantly executed low-budget thriller with nail-biting tension and a thought provoking ambiguous climax, The Maze Runner is a mega-budget blockbuster that, for much of its running time, moves like molasses, and which ends leaving questions that we know will be answered, just so long as we shell out more cash to see the next couple of instalments.

Obviously, at 47 I'm not exactly in the intended demographic for this film, but I do feel that this one missed the opportunity to be a hugely entertaining adventure for all ages. When the characters are in the maze, running for their lives from the grievers (metallic insectoid monsters), or dodging the changing architecture, the film is actually very enjoyable, but far too much time is spent in the relative safety of 'the glade', the idyllic green area at the centre of the maze where the boys first wake up. With my son currently reading the series of books, it's almost certain that I'll have to watch the sequels; I just hope that they make it a little more exciting next time around (and don't cut the film to reduce the UK rating to a 12 certificate. Grrrrrr!).

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

For a film that is budgeted at merely 34 million dollars, this film visually looks really good. For comparison, Fantastic Four had a budget of 120 million and the effects and so called 'set pieces' were awful. This is one of the biggest problems with Hollywood, but that's a discussion for another day. The Maze Runner is actually a surprisingly entertaining movie. For an age in which the medium is flooded with young adult novels and movies, the film feels fresh and isn't overwhelmed by clichés like so many others are.

It's led by a relatively unknown cast. Dylan O'Brien, from Teen Wolf fame, is thrown into a maze structure along with a few dozen other young men who soon find there is more to the maze than they were led to believe. Let me be the first to say I think O'Brien has some chops and definitely has a future in this business. The role doesn't require a ton of range, but I think he proved he can lead a huge action film, and not many actors can say that. The writing itself I thought could have been a little smarter and more mature. Will Poulter, who played a much different character in We're The Millers, was solid in the role that was given to him. But the writing had him doing some really stupid things and was full of forced dialogue I felt.

With that being said, the mythology behind the story is pretty interesting. And they made the film into a more traditional monster film than I'm sure the book originally called for, but it really works. The horror element to the film was by far the most intriguing, and had the biggest payoff. The 'Greavers' also proved to be pretty terrifying, something I didn't think I would say about a film with a bunch of teenagers. So I really only watched this because I'm probably going to see the sequel this weekend, and i ended up enjoying the movie. Plus, having Littlefinger as the next villain gets me pretty excited.

+Monster flick

+Surprisingly well acted

+Suspensful

-Some stupid dialogue

7.2/10