“Wicked is good.”
The Maze Runner is a completely a punch-on-the-face to some skeptical thought about YA adaptation franchises. Surprisingly, it’s no carbon copy of other YA adaptations prior to this; it has completely groundbreaking premise, more likable characters, and less-cliche in its narrative presentation.
Like many other YA franchises, it sets in an unknown dystopian world, where Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is sent to an all-boys community with his memories erased. Just like Thomas, the audiences are as confused as him, as clueless as him; this is where this movie becomes more interesting. Soon, we begin unraveling mysteries inside the maze and learns that they’re trapped in a giant maze that moves every night—a maze that hinders them from the outside world and hinders them from their true identity. All of sudden, a young girl (Kaya Scodelario) is sent to them with a note; then, clues are unraveled and something bigger has come approaching wrapped in a fast-paced, tense narrative that becomes more exciting as it goes.
With plot as tight as that, The Maze Runner indeed tries to pull back its identity which has been scattered all along the duration. And lucky, with such gritty survival narrative, romance takes no part. To compensate that, we’re invited to get attached deeper to the protagonist; to feel alienated with less-known actors (only Will Poulter and Thomas Brodie-Sangster I ever know) and to predict nothing from director Wes Ball’s directorial debut.
VERDICT: The Maze Runner invite us to be in the story with groundbreaking premise, likable characters, and less-cliche in its narrative presentation but with less knowledge to the actors and the director.
The Maze Runner (2014)
Action, Sci-Fi, Mystery, YA Adaptation Directed by: Wes Ball Written by: Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers, T.S. Nowlin based on a novel by James Dashner Starred by: Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario Running Time: 113 mins Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, including some disturbing images
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