The Maze Runner

                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
          
Every aspect of a persons life can be defined in one way or another. Something like high school days, college days or marriage years are obvious categories. But for me being the pop culture/nerd and sport fanatic that I am, my years will be most remembered by this stuff. Today, iPhones by Apple are the most popular phones and social media could not be bigger. I sadly had to watch Lebron James make it to four straight NBA finals appearances and the biggest trend in films now seems to be dystopian society themes with kids living on their own, kids facing conflict, kids fighting kids and kids killing kids. It can be a very interesting subject matter.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
There are many reasons why this subject matter in movies is interesting and makes money. First, all of these movies are based off books. These books have a fan base and have sequels attached to them. If the movie has a nice box office run, the studios are surely going to want to do some sequels. Second, the source material has already been put together before the movie is made so the filmmakers do not have to invent a plot.

What seems forgotten about this certain genre of film is it very dark. This involves kids living an adult life and often with some criminal intent. In real life, these kids are not of the proper age to be doing these types of things but that seems to be thrown out the window in these movies.
                                                                                                                               
In The Maze Runner, Thomas (Dyaln O'Brien) wakes up inside an elevator with no idea of his name or identity and he is eventually taken into a society in what seems to be the near future. The society is led by teenagers and the physical boundaries of this society are marked by a giant maze. The maze has many mysterious things about it and some could ultimately be be the key to getting out back into the real world or it could be the death to all of them.  

In terms of the characters and the depiction of the society, The Maze Runner is all over the place. The acting is not a problem and considering the young cast, this makes it even better with some fresh faces. We know none of where these characters come from, their background or why this society has no woman in it. I would compare it to the The Host, another young adult novel based film that is also  set in a dystopian world and has the same flaw. How in the world does a society like this survive? How are these kids getting food? Where is there waste being disposed? That said, the movie does provide an original ending that shapes this film into being sort of creepy but still leaves the story wide open.             

Obviously, the biggest thing to this film is the maze itself but this is really also what slows down the film. The maze sets up the atmosphere of the film throughout and it's the maze is what keeps us thinking and pondering how it will shape the characters and their society. Once the characters do get inside the maze though, close to nothing happens in substance but the action scenes are still intense and special effects here are pretty effective. Still, I wish there was a better payoff once inside the maze. I bet the payoff will be bigger once the inevitable sequel comes along which has been announced for next September.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                   

Surely I would have loved more details about The Maze Runner and also wished it wasn't so up and down but the movie does have more positive then negative parts to it. Comparing  it to  the other trend films of this genre like Hunger Games to Divergent, The Maze Runner will no doubt be the least remembered. The film also really needs a sequel to give us answers to some of the questions raised near the end of the movie and this would also make this first installment better. In the end, The Maze Runner is A Lord of the Flies type inspired dystopian movie that feels like it's could have came out during the 80's and that's not a bad thing.

3.5/5