Movie Review: 'The Maze Runner'
- sarahkloepple
- Sep 19, 2014
- 2 min read
"The Maze Runner" is the latest YA dystopia creation to jump on the movie adaptation bandwagon. A consensus of reviews is already mixed. There seems to be either eye-rolling for yet another post-apocolyptic, teenage angst-fest or approval for a genuinely suspenseful action flick.
I'm tending to lean towards the latter. But setting aside quality, the film was already smart enough to bank on the breakout power of Dylan O'Brien, best known for his scene-stealing role in the surprise MTV hit "Teen Wolf."
Directed by Wes Ball, "Maze Runner" wastes no time in setting up the action. Unlike its companion "The Hunger Games" (which didn't see the actual games until an hour and a half into the film), we meet our group of survivors and their desolate surroundings within minutes.
Thomas (O'Brien) has just been dumped into "the glade," a wide field with sparse trees and a village of boys who have each been sent there the same way for unknown reasons. Surrounding the glade is "the maze," towering walls of concrete that trap the boys and encase dark and nasty creatures known as Grievers.
Ball does an excellent job with contradicting the peacefulness, and sometimes beauty, of the glade with the menacing enormity of the maze walls. At times he pulls back his shots so far that the boys in the frame seem like ants next to these massive, dirty slabs of concrete that won't allow them to leave.
It really isn't your typical dystopian flick, and O'Brien makes sure of that. He's not trying to protect his family (he lost his memory, so we don't know if he even has one) and he's not trying to overthrow some corrupt government entity — at least not yet, anyway. Unlike the rest of the boys, who have basically come to peace with their imprisonment, he just wants to fight back. And O'Brien uses his trademark charisma as much as his newfound dramatic chops to make him an interesting and likeable (duh, it's Dylan O'Brien) protagonist.
The supporting cast isn't bad either. Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster, aka the adorable kiddo from "Love Actually") is the wise and no-nonsense sidekick while Chuck (Blake Cooper), the youngest of the boys, is a sweet comic relief. But Will Poulter as Gally, the gruff and tough antagonist? I didn't buy it, sorry bro.
Overall, "The Maze Runner" is better than I expected. There are times I was completely thrown by the barbarity of the boys (they banish people!) and the intense terror inside the maze that is just dark enough for the target audience. And the mystery of the maze is very alluring, even though the answers are confusingly open-ended.
Translation: It wasn't terrible. The film really tries, and mostly succeeds, in not being a derivative YA dystopia flick. A sequel is already underway, if you couldn't tell from the ending. And I'm not complaining.
