Summary
Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in “The Glade” for two years, trying to find a way to escape through the Maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change. There are some great, fast-paced action scenes, particularly those involving the nightmarish Grievers who plague the boys.
Genre : Action/Mystery/SF
Country : USA
Cast :
Dylan O’Brien : Thomas
Kaya Scodelario : Teresa
Thomas Brodie-Sangster : Newt
Will Poulter : Gally
Director : Wes Ball
Thomas: “We get out now or we die trying.”
Minho: “You don’t get it. We’re already dead.”
“The Maze Runner” is just like its predecessors “Twilight“, “Divergent“,”The Giver” and “The Hunger Games“ an adaptation of a book. The same ingredients are present as in the above-mentioned films : a post-apocalyptic world where young people play a key role. A world where society is organized in a new democratic or non-democratic way. In “The Giver” human feelings were suppressed in order to ensure a peaceful existence and people are divided into so-called “factions”. In “The Hunger Games“ there are districts with the Capitol as an overarching body that organizes the Hunger Games annually. Also in “Snowpiercer” we see an example of a dystopian world with a particular social classification in a speeding train. The second ingredient that can’t be missed is a revolution against the established values and laws. Obviously, this is again a youthful person with a charismatic personality who has certain talents and who becomes the savior.
In my opinion an exciting and successful teen adventure with a few shortcomings. First, I don’t think that those who read the book will think it’s so overwhelming. Probably it won’t meet the expectations and there will be things that are left out or shown in a different way. And knowing the end of the film will surely ruin the fun. Lucky me though, “again” I didn’t read the book. Secondly, I found it pretty idiotic that the group of youngsters were able to build a tower to get an overview of the maze, but not one of them was clever enough to build it next to the wall. And third the ending was quite abruptly. That this is a transition to the logical sequels of this film is obvious. Hopefully they’ll be of the same level as this one and not like “The Hunger Games” of which the second part really looked like a duplicate of the first. And fourth, I find it a bit sad for the firstlings who spent three years searching the exit and the newcomer solves the puzzle in a few days. Although I‘m not a proponent of sequels or prequels and I hate it that movies tend to inherit the characteristics of a boring and tedious TV series, I’m enormously looking forward to the second part. Jeeeezzzz, I’m amazed about myself !