Film Review: The Maze Runner
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There probably won’t be a film to hit in September that will be more entertaining than The Maze Runner. The film, which screened for fans, has the look and the makings of being a franchise film. Does that excuse it from its faults? Probably not. The technical merits and strong acting carry the film with a script, that while serviceable, feels like the first in a franchise, unsure of what footing it should take. However, the strong direction by Wes Ball and some great young actors keep the film moving.
The Maze Runner starts quickly. We see Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) in an elevator going to the Glade. He’s confused as hell and when he arrives, he’s none the wiser. It doesn’t help that this elevator has dropped him off in the Glade amongst people with strange slang and that happens to be surrounded by giant stone walls. Thomas, whose memory has been wiped, finds himself being forced to acclimate to this strange situation. While there he learns about the different factions in Glade and finds his eye caught by the Runners, those who run the maze looking for a way out before the maze closes at the end of the day. One day, two of the leaders of the group struggle and Thomas makes a rash decision to go into the maze to help. After surviving a harrowing night, Thomas becomes a runner and has to help the group find its way out before it’s too late.
One of the things that struck me the most about this film was how competent the technical merits of the film are. Director Wes Ball certainly had the world at his oyster when crafting the visuals for the film (the Glade, the maze, those grievers) and my goodness does he deliver. Unlike many of the other young adult franchises out right now like Divergent, this movie is visually interesting. This is partially given the setting and other because Ball knows his way around a camera. Every moment feels crafted for great impact, even if it’s something as simple as a conversation. The action scenes in this movie are some of the most tense you’ll likely see. I was on the edge of my seat for the majority of the film, especially in anything involving the Grievers. For those uninformed, these are some demented ass creatures, like a hybrid of that scorpion Transformer from the first film, the evil zombies in Warm Bodies and something out of the mind of Guillermo del Toro. This was certainly the biggest challenge the production team had to deal with, and they succeeded quite well.
The film is not without its first in a franchise issues however. Having read the book, it’s tough to figure out just what to separate is maybe a fan gripe and what’s a legitimate narrative concern. The movie moves quickly, which is nice, but in doing so, it doesn’t allow you to get a full feel of the world. The middle of the film lags a bit and then its a sprint to the finish, eschewing amping up the tension and decisions the characters have to make in favor of just getting to the decision. Much of the way books work is that they can allow for longer passages of time and in some ways, this movie adaptation suffers from the condensation. We get the pertinent information yes, and general outlines of the characters with beats to make them pop, but it feels a bit slight. Even the deaths (which hooray consequences in YA material!), feel less impactful than they could if we spent some time getting into the characters and the world. Thomas, as constructed moves through this story with minimum in the way of a stumbling block and the movie is sure to keep his character moving forward, even when a little messiness might have done that character a world of good. It’s not much of a struggle if every scene we see him make the correct decision, even when he shouldn’t know to, regardless of the character’s intelligence level. But I’ll trade these issues for the ones in the book such as the telepathic conversations (you all don’t know how big of a bullet we dodged here).
As mentioned above, the group of young actors amassed here is one of the finest collections of young talent. Dylan O’Brien has had a stratospheric rise amongst fans after being on Teen Wolfand he’s more than capable of handling this franchise. This role requires a delicate balance of physicality and emotional resonance, and he does so really well. Of the supporting characters, Will Poulter’s Gally stuck out the most for me. It takes a special kind of actor to make this rough around the edges character work and he delivers in spades. The performances of Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Aml Ameen, and Ki Hong Lee as the elder statesman of the group also bring some gravitas. Kaya Scoledario, as the lone woman, might suffer the most from the stripping down of the narrative as she isn’t given much to do, but she still manages to hold her own.
All in all, The Maze Runner is not a perfect film, but it’s got enough good going for it that you can’t help but go along for the ride. Wes Ball and company should be proud of what they created and it certainly seems the franchise is off to an impressive start.
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