"The Maze Runner" Review

Title: The Maze Runner

Directed by: Wes Ball

Screenplay by: Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Meyers, and T.S. Nowlin

Year: 2014


Based on the trailers, The Maze Runner looked as if it was set up to be another half-assed teen action film with all the common ingredients: bad acting, horrible writing, and a nonsense plot. I can gladly say that The Maze Runner hits above all three of these marks and is actually a pretty good movie.

A boy named Thomas, played by Dyaln O'Brien, wakes up in a small field surrounded by large walls with no recollection of his past. There he meets a large tribe of boys who share his loss of memory and explain their situation. The boys are closed off in this field by a large maze. Within the maze, they find clues about the outside world and thus their thirst for knowledge drives them to delve deeper and deeper into the maze, filled with danger and terror. This is based on the novel by James Dashner.

In my opinion, the success of this film hinged on one key factor: the acting. When you have a film that is compromised entirely of young actors, there is a high possibility for disaster. However, I can easily say that every actor gives a good performance, each one delivering their lines well and giving their respective characters a certain degree of depth. I wouldn't call any of these performances particularly great, but the young actors get the job done well and certainly exceeded my expectations.

To praise another thing about this film, I admired its creativity. The design of the maze was quite creative at times and I can honestly say that I haven't seen anything quite like the Grievers, the monsters of the maze. I also liked the fact that each boy would write his name on the wall of the maze. I found it to be a nice touch that allowed for some visual storytelling.

This is Wes Ball's directorial debut and I believe he did a fairly good job. The camera movements within the maze make it seem organic and help add suspense and weight to the current situation. The maze moments are where he really shines as a director. Seeing as how this is his first film, there really isn't a style I can pin him to. I didn't find anything too distinctive here but I believe he's made a decent start to his career.

As for visual effects, they were rather hit and miss. The Grievers had an interesting design, but seemed overly reliant on CGI. As a result, they stuck out. Th effects concerning the maze however, are really well done.

But this film is not void of issues. The story works within the confines of the movie but towards the end it becomes predictable, sadly. And as far as characters go, the main ones have some depth to them but the side characters are rather black and white. And even the characters that do have some depth have horrible arcs. One of the characters doesn't even have an arc and thus he doesn't leave as much of an impact as he should have. And the introduction of the girl Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), which is not a spoiler since this appeared in the trailer, added nothing to the film really. Omitting the character and revising the plot a little bit would have yielded the same end result, more or less.

Overall, The Maze Runner is a rather good watch. It's fun and exciting, has likable if somewhat shallow characters, and it is an original concept. It has issues with the resolution of the plot and some of its characters, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Grade: B-