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| Here we are. In a maze. Running. Surprisingly little of the film actually consists of this. |
A boy, Thomas, wakes in an elevator cage and is thrust into the Glade, a pastoral idyll surrounded by a vast maze. Here, a community of amnesic boys scratch out a living based on three rules: 1) Do your part, 2) Never harm another glader, 3) Stay out of the maze. The last rule is broken only for the Runners, who map the maze in search of a way out. After Thomas's arrival, things start to change; a girl, Theresa, arrives and the community comes under attack, leaving no options but to escape... or die trying.
The Maze Runner is a tightly paced movie with a great deal to recommend it. Overall it is well-acted and beautifully designed. The characters are drawn in broad strokes - the leader, the visionary, the obligatory jerk, the kid, Thomas Brdie-Sangster does his super-serious thing again) - but well drawn. The maze is an astonishing piece of design and the film projects a convincing sense of its monumental scale. The Grievers are deeply horrible, without quite being nightmare fuel.
It's imperfect, and will be getting a more detailed write-up on the Bad Movie Marathon presently. In the early stages it is overly reliant on people being enigmatic arseholes to develop tension (seriously, how hard is it to say 'stay out of the maze because it seals at sunset and fills up with streaming death monsters', rather than just 'we don't leave the glade'?), and Theresa is made out to be super tough and feisty but is primarily useless (I hope that she becomes more pivotal at later points in the trilogy.)
A sequel based on the second book, The Scorch Trials, is planned for next year. If that is successful then the third book will doubtless be adapted in two parts.
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