The Maze Runner review:
A-Mazing Race
BY IAN
TAN
The Maze Runner is the first entry in the film series based off James Dashner’s best-selling book trilogy of the same name.
At this point in time, a book series-turned-film is a sure-fire
box-office cash grab for Hollywood. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that
we’ll be getting a good page-to-screen adaptation. While some of these adaptations succeed at pleasing fans as
well as general audiences alike (Harry
Potter & The Hunger Games
films), some are an insult to both factions of viewers (The Twilight Saga). Then there’s the “meh”
camp of these movies (this year’s Divergent).
With that being said, where does The Maze
Runner fit within these categories?
Surprisingly, The Maze Runner
manages to be a very well made first entry in a potentially successful film
quadrilogy (sigh, gone are the golden Trilogy days), ala The Hunger Games. Sure, it lacks the star-power of The Hunger Games, but new faces, as long
as they’re good looking and have good acting chops, are always welcome. Just
look at how far Marvel got using that strategy. Who would Tom Hiddleston be if
it weren’t for Loki, or Chris Hemsworth if it weren’t for Thor?
Here, several familiar faces, namely Will Poulter (Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader &
We’re The Millers) and Thomas
Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones
& Phineas and Ferb) really make a
name for themselves and seal themselves as memorable talents we’d like to see
in future films. Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) takes on the lead role in this film
as a bewildered Thomas who is unexpectedly brought to The Glade, a field of
grass surrounded by an elaborate maze of gargantuan proportions. The habitants
of The Glade have been trapped for over 3 years, with ‘Runners’ taking charge
every day to work out the intricacies of the Maze in hopes of finding an escape
route.
As previously mentioned, the acting talent involved here is pretty good
and are likely to be newfound fan-favourites. Dylan O’Brien has a commanding
presence as Thomas, striking a fine balance between dead-set bravery and
inquisitive curiosity. Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s Newt is likely to be audiences’
favourite supporting character of the bunch, while Will Poulter channels a more
mature version of the bratty Eustace Scrubb from Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader as the arrogant Gally in this
film. The one that will most probably leave a mark on most audiences however is
Lee Ki Hong, of Wongfu Productions fame, who plays the experienced Runner,
Minho. Although there isn’t all that much depth given to his character in the
film, he makes the most out of his scenes and proves to be a firm and likable
action star, which is quite the departure from his She Has a Boyfriend and This
Is How We Never Met days. Good news, girl moviegoers, you have now found
your next Taylor Lautner, and he’s not a bad actor ;)
Oh, and Kaya Scodelario’s character Teresa is rather wasted here, and seems like just an excuse to have a female player in the battlefield. The Teresa character really has no purpose in the story, and whatever elements she brings to further the story could have easily been given to Thomas. Hopefully she’ll have more to do in the sequels.
Story-wise, this film does a good job at keeping audiences
interested in the events that unfold, which is primarily due to the nicely done
character development of the main players, which was something I wasn’t really
expecting from this movie. I even found myself on the edge of my seat during
certain intense action sequences, which is always a plus. Although several
pivotal characters are given a good amount of dialogue and screen-time, many of
the other members of the Glade seem to fade into the background and are given
little for us to remember them by. But that’s all right, because we’d rather have
a film with a good small number of main characters than one with a clutter of
poorly developed, uninteresting ones.
In terms of production value, the titular Maze is quite impressive,
but overall, the film does suffer slightly from the typical sub-par visual
effects and set pieces most first entry films do (remember the awful fire
effects and terrible shaky-cam in the first Hunger
Games?). Although the action in The
Maze Runner is thrilling for the most part, it does rely on quick-cut
editing and some shaky-cam to hide some of the unpolished CGI, most apparent
during several Griever attack scenes. But this is a minor nit-pick in what is
an overall enjoyable, good time at the cinema.
To sum it up, The Maze Runner delivers an engaging first entry film in its series, with some compelling characters and memorable performances. And although the production design and other technical elements could have been improved, it is forgivable considering that this is the first in its series, and if it manages well with audiences and the box office, a bigger budget will likely be given to its sequel, which we all hope will be the next Catching Fire of book-to-movie sequels, because in my opinion, this film is already better than the first Hunger Games movie.
Final rating
The Maze Runner gets 7.9 out of 10 stars
– A great
kick-starter to a potentially successful book-to-film series.
