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The Maze Runner (2014)
Daniel's Review
'The Maze Runner’ is based on a young-adult novel, titled with the same name.
The film follows Thomas, the film’s main protagonist, as he is forced to live in this world, where he can’t escape, in this jungle type community. The only solution, the scary maze.
At first, I wasn’t interested by ‘The Maze Runner’, as it just looked like another one of those young-adult films, based on already established novels. ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’ and ‘The Host’ are films in the past year that have a unique premise, but fails with its clichéd story and characters, ‘The Maze Runner’, thankfully, isn’t one of those young-adult novels turned into movies, it actually has a heart, which the previous two films, I mentioned, failed to achieve.
‘The Maze Runner’ does have some cheesy dialogue, and some of the characters aren’t as developed as they should be, but darn it, it is one hell of a ride.
‘The Maze Runner’ offers enough thrills and action to be exciting, and intriguing. ‘
The Maze Runner’ has enough heart, enough action, and enough emotion to be an awesome thriller-drama type of hybrid that is entertaining, right to the end of the film’s runtime.
Only problem, the film starts off slow, but has enough of these elements, as ‘The Maze Runner’ rightfully excels as a non-stop entertaining thriller ride that I enjoyed quite a lot.
Score: 7.9/10
Published: October 1st, 2014
Details
Review
Release Date: September 18th, 2014
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Runtime: 113 mins
Rated: M
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Nic's Review
What would happen if you woke up one day and found yourself trapped within a maze?
Not just any maze, but a deadly, impregnable labyrinth that no one has been able to escape for 3 years?
Well, that's the basic premise of 'The Maze Runner', a film that uses every convention of young adult fiction ever conceived, rarely unpredictably, but somehow manages to remain a cohesive, enjoyable movie.
The main component that keeps 'The Maze Runner' from becoming forgettable are its likeable characters, well-acted for the most part. Protagonist Thomas may be a very familiar character mould - the disillusioned hero who challenges an established order despite others' distrust - but there's a reason that it's such a common stereotype. Thomas serves as an avatar upon which the audience can project itself, someone they can identify with. The antagonist, another boy trapped in the maze, Gally, doesn't come off quite as well, perhaps because he doesn't begin to develop until the third act of the film.
But the real villain is the maze, which is indeed terrifying, thanks to the slow buildup of suspense before we even see the inside of it.
Unfortunately, unlike the maze, the plot is very predictable, at least until the epilogue but that's too little too late. The logic behind it is also a bit unbelievable and silly and so much exposition is dumped throughout the movie to try and justify it. The script in general seems poorly edited and the characters' cliches are mirrored in their dialogue. But again, many characters are so likeable you barely notice their lack of creative design.
Ultimately, 'The Maze Runner' is exactly the type of film you'd expect it to be and targeted at a very specific audience, drawing many parallels to 'The Hunger Games'.
If you liked that film, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this one.
Score: 7.3/10