Film Review: The Maze Runner

A kid wakes up in a cage that's climbing up an elevator shaft, with no memory of who he is and where he came from.  At the top, he finds himself stuck in the middle of a grassy plain, surrounded by trees, and giant metal walls beyond.  Beyond the walls is some kind of massive labyrinth, which closes itself off every night, and there are deadly cybernetic creatures that come out to slay anybody who's stuck inside.  This kid finds himself among a small society of other kids who have been stuck in this place for years, and could never find their way out of the maze...until now!

If nothing else, I think The Maze Runner starts off with a really cool concept and it remains enthralling all the way to its end.  Even if it does fall into the typical tropes, cliches, and formula set up by other adaptations of YA fiction novels (especially The Hunger Games), the film is very consistently thrilling.  It's not just the action scenes, of which there are plenty and they're never really overdone - it's the plot and the methodical way it unravels that captivated me the most.  It starts off so enigmatically, the film kept me glued to the action to see what the heck is going on and what the secret is behind the maze.  The maze lends itself easily to building suspense, as the characters have to maneuver through its winding corridors and evade death at every turn.  Outside of the maze, the film keeps the tension high thanks to an overarching sociological struggle that forces the characters to question whether they should risk their lives to escape or remain alive in their well-organized mini-society.  At times, this takes the characters to darker and savage territory.  The film can be pretty violent and nasty when it needs to be; it's not too distastefully graphic, but it is definitely not all that fluffy either.

The plot runs pretty evenly with minimal drag, thanks to the plethora of conflicts that emerge among the different characters and the events that unfold.  That being said, it's still not a perfect story; I personally found it odd that all it takes place in the course of three days (were it not for the dialogue, I would have assumed that months had passed).  There are moments in the film where you could question why certain things weren't tried to accomplished before the main character's timely arrival.  I found most plot holes easy enough to dismiss, but the film's success in the long run may depend on how the sequels do (and yes, the movie does end with a huge infodump that leaves more questions unanswered, and offers a lead-in for the next movie).  I found most of the characters likable, except for one major antagonist, who may be one of the most unreasonably jerky characters I've seen in a while.  I wanted to slap that Gally upside the head.  The story seems to dig up some very interesting sociological themes, thanks to its focus on the group, the system they built, and their ongoing struggle through the maze.  I have no idea how this movie compares to the original book, but it certainly has me interested enough to read it sometime.

The film looks mostly-good.  Photography is great in many scenes, but a few of the action scenes tend to be jittery and erratic at times.  Editing is decent.  I felt the cast was good, especially considering that so many of these actors are children.  Writing gets the job done; there is a lot of exposition, some of which dumps a lot of new terms on the audience, but it keeps things rolling well.  This production has decent-looking sets, props, and costumes.  Music is okay.

This film is a bit like what you get if you take the death-match scenes from The Hunger Games and crossed it with The Lord of the Flies.  It may look like just another YA adaptation, but I think The Maze Runner is decent sci-fi and it could be the start of a cool new film franchise.

Recommended!

4/5 (Entertainment:  Good | Story:  Good | Film:  Good)