The Maze Runner Review

After waking up in a community of adolescent boys who live in a plot of land surrounded by a giant maze with no memory of anything but his name, Thomas tries to inspire the other boys to find an escape while trying to piece together why they have been put there. When a girl arrives unexpectedly, the adolescent, teenage, hormone-filled boys who have never seen a girl for 3 years… treat her normally and just like one of them and they all work together to try to find a way out of the maze.

The Maze Runner is, for the most part, an entertaining film. With a pretty intriguing premise and an interesting mystery plastered throughout, the film encapsulates its viewer with its extravagant story-telling and enchanting acting by most that were involved in the film. Though it contains a tiny romantic element that I did not enjoy even with it’s short time frame, it is, thankfully, not one of those typical novel-based love triangle films. The action scenes, though few, are done very well and keeps one on the edge of their seats.

Ki Hong Lee shows he has
talent and proves he is not
just added for diversity sake.

A good place to start when evaluating the film is in the performances. A very ethnically diverse cast, the actors do a good job working with each other. With a lead that looks like every other teenage male main character in the world these days, relative new-comer, Dylan O’Brien does a good enough job to keep his audience feeling connected to his very generic lead character. Doing everything the audience would want to do and asking all the questions the audience wants to ask, the character basically takes the role of the audience and O’Brien does well to guide the audience through a very simple story that only looks complicated due to the set design. Though he was given a pretty standard role, O’Brien is best when working alongside his co-actors. An excellent all-round performance by each boy who fulfill their roles flawlessly, extra plaudit must be given to Will Poulter, who at this point I cannot tell if he is acting or if he is really a jerk. O’Brien and Poulter work well together in every scene and the film is only enhanced further with the addition of fun characters like Alby and Minho who added to a very strong cast and a very immersive performance. It must be said, however, that the girl, Kaya Scodelario, unfortunately, represented the weak link of the cast. Giving a performance that she thinks people want, she plays a very Kristen Stewart-like character and took me out of the film every time she appeared on-screen after she woke up. It is also unfortunate that the amount of characters in the film makes it difficult to connect with any one of them other than O’Brien and causes the removal of some characters to feel somewhat inconsequential. This, of course, is not the fault of the actors but of the writers and director.

Will Poulter and Ki Hong Lee giving
an update of the film on YouTube.

Ultimately, however, the intrigue of entire film hinges on the mystery of why they are in the maze and what they are meant to do. Unfortunately, while still having very well put together action scenes, the mystery does not pay off. The ‘answers’ to all the questions one thinks up is probably the first thing one would suspect and that does not make for a very satisfying conclusion. The ending is disappointing and leaves most questions unanswered. Additionally, the questions the film does decide to answer are given silly, disappointing and illogical resolutions. Plot holes filled the final third of the film as this great ride falls into the trap that TV show ‘Lost’ fell into. It's always upsetting to see a film with such potential fall flat at the end.

Being a fun film with a relatively weak pay-off, the film was still very well directed and made. The CGI of the maze was very believable. The film does tend to lose its charm after some time away from the theatre, but it is still an enjoyable ride and does come recommended if your have that extra time on your hands.

The journey is, after all, more important than the destination. At least, that’s what we’ll have to tell ourselves after the film..

Action movie rating: 7/10

After Credits Movie Rating: 7/10