As someone who enjoys a good mystery, “The Maze Runner” naturally intrigued me. I was interested, but expected it to be just another tale of adolescents fighting to survive in some strange dystopian situation (sounds familiar, right?).
The story, which was originally a book by James Dashner, risks losing itself in a genre approaching cliche, thanks to the vast popularity of stories like “The Hunger Games” or “Divergent.” However, it has noble qualities that keep it from sinking into the deep abyss that is the futuristic, angsty, teenage action-drama.
The story begins with the protagonist Thomas, actor Dylan O’Brien, ascending in a service elevator that surfaces and opens to a bright open field. He looks up and sees that he is surrounded by a large group of boys, both young and old. The large field that the boys call “The Glade” is surrounded by massive walls keeping them inside. Thomas discovers that all the boys arrived there the same way he did, one at a time and without any recollection of how they got there.
The leader of the boys teaches Thomas about the society that they have created within the walls and the jobs that each person is assigned. Thomas soon learns of the massive circular maze that surrounds The Glade and the “runners” who spend their days mapping the constantly shifting maze.
This system that the boys have set up begins to crumble with the arrival of Thomas. Every day brings new challenges for the group and its members have to make the decision whether to continue to survive in The Glade or attempt to escape through the maze.
As the story unfolds, many of the questions get answered, while others only create more confusion. The constantly twisting conclusion defies some logic and causes the resolution of the film to seem a bit messy. It is obvious that the writers of “The Maze Runner” wanted to leave room for a sequel rather than bring a logical conclusion to the story.
While this ending did not completely satisfy me, it did not ruin the film. I found myself wishing the writers mirrored in the ending the high level of intensity and wonder found in the beginning of the story.
“The Maze Runner” illustrates many different types of freedom, but claims that absolute freedom is impossible. For some of the boys, freedom could be found within The Glade, living by the rules set by the maze makers. For others, like Thomas, they would stop at nothing to achieve true reign over their own lives.
“The Maze Runner” contains some thought-provoking philosophy, but the true value of the film can be found in its ability to keep you on the edge of your seat and wonder what will happen next. It is entertaining and well filmed, but has some lapses in logic as well as contains themes that are borderline cliche.
I rate this movie 2.9 J-dubs out of 4.