The Maze Runner Review

Making film adaptions of young adult novels has been the thing everybody's doing ever since the first Hunger Games film launched in 2012. There was Harry Potter and Twilight before that, but it wasn't until two years ago that literally every young adult novel that has even a moderately high fanbase started getting a movie along with it. This hasn't been all bad; I enjoyed both the first two Hunger Games films and am looking forward to the next two. But, for the most part, a lot of these movies have been utterly disposable. When I saw the trailer for The Maze Runner, I was intrigued by the premise, but worried that once again it'd be a popular book made into a below average movie. How was it really?

The Maze Runner gives me a bit of hope for the YA novel adaption genre. No, it wasn't amazing, nor as good as it could have been. But, it certainly wasn't bad either. There are parts of a great movie here, parts of the next Harry Potter franchise, or the next Hunger Games series. It stumbles a bit in the final act, but honestly, it wasn't half bad.

One of the things that surprised me about this film was how good the acting was. The cast is made up of young actors that I recognized, but didn't expect to actually be good. Dylan O'Brien stars as the main character, Thomas, and after seeing him in this movie, I expect he has a nice career ahead of him. Will Poulter is also in the movie. You may remember him as the annoying cousin from the third Chronicles of Narnia as I did. He has changed quite a bit since his days on board the Dawn Treader. Also, the main kid from the first Nanny McPhee, Thomas Sangster, made a major appearance. All of these guys did really great jobs, as did the rest of the cast.

The Maze Runner has a really strong premise. These kids have been sent into a field that is surrounded by insurmountable walls. On the outside of these walls lies a giant maze. No one knows why they're there or who sent them. All they know is that anyone caught in the maze at night doesn't come back. Creatures they call Grievers stalk the maze after dark, and prey on anyone unlucky enough to find themselves out there at this time.

There's potential for some really effective mystery there, and for the better part of the first two acts, the movie makes good on that potential. In the last act, though, the mystery is basically thrown out the window, and the film concludes in very predictable fashion. This was disappointing, especially since I really enjoyed the movie before that.

The maze running sequences were all well done. They were exciting, well-shot, and I felt the characters were actually in danger, which is always a good thing. Some of the parts outside the maze felt slow, and there were times where I realized that literally nothing was happening to advance the plot or characters.

And the film does rely on its premise a bit too heavily at times. I felt that it wanted you to be wowed by it so much, that it forgot that you actually have to execute the premise well for it to be truly good. Character development is one thing that suffers because of this.

So, overall, I had a good time with The Maze Runner. Do you have to rush out to a theater now and see it? No, you don't. Is it sure to be the start of the next blockbuster YA franchise? No, it's not. But is it better than most other genre entries that have come out recently? Yes, it is. While the conclusion to the film was quite predictable as I mentioned, and some of the plot points don't make sense when considered closely, I'd say it's worth a trip to the theater to see if you've got nothing else going on.

B-