Gally: Will Poulter
Newt: Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Teresa: Kaya Scodelario
Alby: Aml Ameen
Minho: Ki Hong Lee
Chuck: Blake Cooper
Ava Paige: Patricia Clarkson
20th Century Fox
presents a film directed by Wes Ball. Written by Noah Oppenheim and Grant
Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin. Based on the novel by James Dashner. Running
time: 113 min. Rated PG-13 (for thematic elements and intense sequences of
sci-fi violence and action, including some disturbing images).
It must be a great time to
be a developing reader. It seems the young adult fantasy/sci-fi/horror
literature genre is gong through some sort of renaissance of late, if the movie
adaptations are any indication. In truth, there have been a great number of
romances and dramas to come out of young adult literature of late as well. As I
get older I find it harder to get excited about these films, but I would
imagine were I reading the material that inspires them, I’d be very excited
about them. As Toby Maguire complained this past week, it seems young adult
novel adaptations and superhero movies are the only options left in film for
young performers.
Well, the latest entry of a
YA adaptation is the sci-fi adventure/mystery “The Maze Runner”. It’s a
surprisingly uncompromising mystery with strong performances by a cast of young
actors, who promise incredible careers. The film is in some ways a throwback to
such classics as “Lord of the Flies” yet contains the energy of a “Hunger Games”.
I can’t really say whether the science fiction of it holds up because it is the
first in a larger trilogy and ends without resolution.
We meet Thomas, although he
doesn’t know that’s his name at the time, as he ascends on some sort of
industrial facility elevator. He reaches the top to discover a group of teens
living in an enclosed field and forest, known as The Glade. High walls surround
the rather small patch of land inhabited by these children boarding on men.
There are no women. Thomas is told everyone arrives the same way every 30 days,
on the elevator with no memory. Their names are the only details that ever
return to their memory. None of them know where they are or why they are there.
Alby is the leader of the
group. He and his second, Newt, orient the newbies. Gally isn’t quick to
befriend Thomas, acting as the enforcer of the set of rules the little society
has established. Thomas learns that there are different job sects that each of
the residents fall into. Some are builders, some are farmers, some are
enforcers, and a select few are referred to as runners. The walls that surround
the encampment have doors that remain open during the day, although no one is
allowed to go out them other than the runners. The runners return before dusk.
No one has ever survived a night outside the walls. On the other side is a
massive maze that changes shape daily and is roamed at night by deadly organic/mechanical
beasts known as Grievers.
It is the arrival of Thomas,
however, that brings about major changes to the way of life in The Glade.
Thomas remembers his name much faster than anyone before him. A runner is stung
by a Griever in broad daylight. And, only a few days after Thomas arrives, the
first female resident of the Glade arrives with a note that says she will be
the last. Of course, many of the residents who have been in the Glade for some
time are ready to blame Thomas for events going bad. The truth is, since he has
little memory beyond his name, Thomas doesn’t know the changes aren’t his
fault. It seems the only way to find out the truth is to leave the Glade and
navigate the giant maze.
There are two elements that
director Wes Ball and his screenwriters excel at—suspense and mystery. The
movie never tips its hat as to just what is really going on in this scenario.
Even once the film is over the mystery hasn’t been solved; all we know is that
nothing is what it seemed. Ball is also quite adept at utilizing the murkiness
of the set up to build upon the tension held within the Glade itself. There’s a
sense with all of the captives that they know something very dark is a work
behind the scenes. Some are content to embrace their existence in The Glade,
while others’ curiosity can’t allow them to be contained.
Ball doesn’t over use the
Grievers, either. In a lesser movie, most of the action would consist of
menacing shots of the Grievers juxtaposed with images of the teens quaking in
the dark. While there certainly is some of that, these are ambitious characters,
unwilling to wait for the enemy to come to them. In their defiance, the action
becomes about discovering why they are there more so than how, or even if, they
will escape the fate offered by the Grievers.
If anything, it’s the lack
of answers that holds this installment back. Like the different chapters of “The
Lord of the Rings” trilogy, it is all too obvious that this is only part of a
much greater story. Frankly, neither the audience nor the characters know
anything more about why they are in the Glade at the end of the movie than they
did in the beginning. The characters might think they’ve discovered something
at the end, but the audience knows only that they don’t.
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