MOVIE REVIEW: MAZE RUNNER (2014)

Sometimes, you wish that a movie was just made as a stand-alone movie. That is what hamstrings Maze Runner the most. Just when it seems like it has established its world and starts setting up the main story, it suddenly ends. Just when it starts to get really good, they try to leave it open for a sequel which undermines its main story.

Maze Runner is about a group of boys trapped in the centre of a moveable maze, who have had there memories wiped. In the maze, techno-organic reavers roam hunting any kids left there at night. When our main character arrives, Tomas, things begin to change. The reavers start attacking in daylight, the maze doesn’t shut the gate at night to protect the boys and a girl arrives. What follows is part lord-of-the-flies, as the boys fight for trying to escape vs staying put, and then the attempt to find an exit.

It feels like there are several different, interconnected movies stuck together in Maze Runner. There is the lord-of-the-flies type infighting amongst the boys. Add to this the mystery of the maze and the attempts to escape the maze. Both of these movies mesh together quite well. However, towards the end of the movie, it tries to throw in a big twist which doesn’t provide a satisfying conclusion. It tries to set-up a sequel and leave unanswered questions, but instead it feels like it is only sequel-bait as it tries to set-up a franchise.

I have to mention I really liked the design of the maze and the reavers. The maze looks like an imposing structure of metal and stone, having that low-tech feel to it. The reavers also feel menacing as they crawl around, arachnid-like, picking off children. It helps that the movie shows restraint in its first half in neglecting to show them too much, instead relying on the boys speaking about them in awe and fear.

Overall, Maze Runner does allot of things well. I am not sure if they could have fit the whole self-contained story in one movie, but the ending leaves the whole movie down. Instead of feeling like a self-contained story with a satisfying conclusion, the movie instead feels like sequel bait with too many unresolved plot-points to make the journey worthwhile.

2 out of 5 lost-in-space Waffles.