The Maze Runner (2014)

Directed by: Wes Ball
Country: USA / Canada / UK

Move Review: The adaptation of James Dashner’s novel dated from 2007, “The Maze Runner”, is a floppy combination of several films from the past, taking us on a trip into the vagueness. The film makes us recall “Cube” - with the particularity of taking place in an open-sky labyrinth, the leadership/submissive relationships among the youngsters in “Lord of the Flies”, and the fierce attacks and battles depicted in “Alien”. The story is centered on Thomas, an oblivious 16-year-old who joins other boys in ‘The Glade’, a cryptic place surrounded by changeable huge walls. Only a couple of these boys, called ‘runners’, know more about what’s beyond these walls and the secrets about the Grievers, the ugly alien creatures that inhabit the dark maze. The courageous Thomas, obeying to an impulse to save his mates, will adventure himself in the other side, being the first one to survive and decipher the enigma. “The Maze Runner” is marked by the lack of rigor and dispersion of the plot, along with the confusion of its images when depicting the chaos of battles or panic in the group. Never exciting, the film never passes any sensation of freshness, so vital to avoid the typical conclusion ‘I’ve seen this too many times before’. First-time director, Wes Ball, never found focus in the writing of Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Meyers, and TS Nowlin, in order to clarify the viewer or provide the visual satisfaction that we seek in a good sci-fi movie. The formulaic approach removed any interest we might have in its fastidious heroes, as well as the curiosity regarding the next chapter, expected a year from now.