The Maze Runner Review

I’m a self-professed fan of Dylan O’Brien thanks to his fantastic performance on Teen Wolf. He is one of two reasons I watch that show at all (Tyler Hoechlin being the second reason). He appears to be the breakout star on that show with several movie credits to his name and now he has a new potentially successful franchise on his hands with The Maze Runner. The film is an adaptation of the first book in the trilogy. It follows Thomas, a teen who is placed in a community of boys after suffering memory loss.  Soon enough he realizes that they are trapped in a maze and they will all need to work together in order to make their way out to freedom.  But is freedom really the best option? What will it cost? What world waits them behind those gates?

I am someone that didn’t read the book for this film. I believe it was beneficial because I went in with no expectations. I was expecting something along the lines of your typical dystopian film (see The Hunger Games and Divergent) and that is more or less what I got, but that didn’t make it any less entertaining.  I thought the plot was easy enough to follow and the pacing was okay. I didn’t think it was too long or too short.  The performances of the actors were decent enough and I think Dylan carried the film well as a leading man.  The effects were well done though clearly they don’t have the same budget as The Hunger Games.

I definitely got Lord of the Flies vibes several times since the premise of abandoned boys growing up fast and making it on their own to survive is a strong plot point. But it has a new age spin on it with the supernatural elements.  If you’re sick of dystopian films then this movie probably won’t sway you to feel differently, but if you want a nice warmup before Mockingjay Part 1 comes out, then this film just might scratch that itch.  I think this film should be successful enough to warrant sequels. I just hope the third one isn’t split into two parts; that is clearly the trend these days when it comes to book trilogies.  Harry Potter is the only film of this current flock that rightly needed to be split. All of these other films are clearly just capitalizing on the brand and squeezing more money out of the fans. And we buy it hook, line, and sinker.

All in all the film is certainly watchable and I am hopeful that this is a good stepping stone for Dylan O’Brien to move onto bigger than better things than MTV. I don’t know if the general story interests me enough to pick up the books, but I will certainly watch the films! Onto the next one!