The Maze Runner (2014)
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The Maze Runner Movie Review
The Maze Runner is a 2014 science fiction action film directed by Wes Ball and starring Dylan O’Brien. It is easily the best entry in this trilogy.
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“Be careful, don’t die“
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Yes, this is where the franchise started on a strong note. The story here is definitely familiar, but so stupendously crafted and executed that it ended up being hugely entertaining. I liked the darker tone in it, I admired the high stakes and the maze is so well constructed and intriguing. The film has a pleasantly mysterious, intriguing feel to it which I dug quite a bit.
Let’s talk about the characters which are solid for this type of film, but far from great. Thomas is your typical overly confident and overly heroic protagonist who is basically a Gary Stu. Teresa is very forgettable and underdeveloped as the only girl here. Gally is definitely familiar, but still very strong and I liked the conflict that arose between him and Thomas.
Newt is also good as is Mihno who is quite badass. I liked the diversity in this film as it is rare to see an Asian guy get such a prominent role in a major blockbuster, especially for 2014. So the characters are serviceable, their dynamic is pretty good and the highlight is the acting which is very good across the board with the highlights being typecast but rightfully so Will Poulter and Dylan O’Brien who surely runs like a champ and is great as a teen action star.
The Maze Runner features one pretty unfortunate cliffhanger. Up to that point, the film was a lot of fun, highly entertaining and pretty good. However, that third act was so obviously vague in its explanations and ambiguous as to cash in on the future prospects of a sequel. Thus we get to see very typical exposition that hints at the silliness and boredom that the rest of the franchise was bound to induce.
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But there is no denying that the action is fantastic. The running is actually phenomenal and rarely have I seen better action in terms of running away from danger as Dylan O’Brien runs almost as greatly as Tom Cruise. The action is consistently entertaining, very well executed and dangerous. It is the standout aspect of the film which is otherwise poorly shot and overly dark which annoyed me tremendously.
The Maze Runner definitely has an unfortunate cliffhanger filled with too much exposition that shamelessly calls for a sequel, but other than that, it is a lot of fun thanks to superbly executed action sequences and pretty high stakes. The photography is too dark, but the characters and acting are solid. It is a flawed, but overall quite solid young adult film.
