Tuesday 7 April 2015

Review: Maze Runner (2014)

I had heard bad things about this film so I didn't rush out to see it but I think maybe I need to learn to not listen to reviews and watch films for myself.  Since then I've stopped reading full reviews until after I have watched the film myself.  



Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) wakes up after being dumped in the centre of a maze with a community of boys, who over the years have been dropped their themselves.  They haven't been able to escape the maze before now but Thomas seems to think differently.  He joins up with the 'runners' in an attempt to find an escape before it's too late.



Considering the not so great reviews for this, I actually loved it.  The CGI mechanical monsters and the concrete 'living' maze add excitement to the proceedings and the fairly unknown cast remind me of Lord of the Flies.  The lack of knowledge about what is going on keep you engrossed throughout, you have to keep watching to find out how the boys (and girl) got there and why.



I'm not sure it's up to the standard of The Hunger Games series (story wise) but it was nice to watch this type of film having not read the book therefore not having a clue what was going on.  Not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if i had read the book as it doesn't seem to have as much content and character development as the HG stories do.



I generally love this 'young adult' genre of films anyway but this was a pleasant surprise. Onto the books next.



4 comments:

  1. Pleasantly surprised also describes how I felt about this one. Haven't read the book for this or HG. What I preferred about this movie over those is that this didn't needlessly drag me around for 2 1/2 hours. Its runtime and plot feel well matched while the HG flicks feel bloated.

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  2. I wasn't sure about this either but it was surprisingly good. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment.

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  3. This is one of the YA adaptations I was actually intrigued to see...have yet to see it, but now I'm feeling more inclined! Great review Jenna!

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  4. I actually enjoyed this one as well, I haven't read the book for this or the Hunger Games for that matter, but like Wendell said I preferred how this movie didn't drag around like HG did and just kept the audience entertained the full run time. Great review, Jenna!

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