The Maze Runner

Yawn...

Another Young Adult novel adaptation that will try to live up to the soaring highs of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series.

Destined to fail right?

Don't be so fast to judge with The Maze Runner.

You see, every day I have about 45-60 minutes to read due to my commute to and from work. And naturally I am the type of person that enjoys having read the source material before seeing the film in theaters, at least when I can. So about a month ago I took the plunge into The Maze Runner series, honestly not expecting anything really much better than Divergent (a series that I more or less enjoyed, but it had some glaring issues).

I ripped through The Maze Runner within about a week. It borderline blew me away with how unalike it was from many YA novels. There was no poorly written or forced love story/triangle. It had a certain sense of maturity about it, a group of well defined characters, and most importantly: an incredible sense of mystery. One that I haven't really experienced since the days of LOST, one of my favorite television shows. After taking a slight break to read Gone Girl (another movie I am now very eager to see), I dove back into the second book of the series, The Scorch Trials. Long story short, it was just as good as the first and I was now beyond impressed with the series. A few days ago I started The Death Cure (I'll admit he doesn't have the best book titles) and it too is phenomenal. Once it's all said and done, I could easily see The Maze Runner series being one of my absolute favorites, right up there with the aforementioned greats.

So, take those previous paragraphs as two separate things. First, as a recommendation to read the series. They are quick and easy reads and intriguing from cover to cover. Second, as a disclaimer that I have read and absolutely loved the books. So that means I am either going to be very impressed with the movie or very disappointed, and that should be reflected in my score.

So the big question remains...which is it?

You challenging me to a dance battle, Thomas? IT'S ON!

The question that is always on everyone's mind, or at least on every fan's mind, with film adaptations of any source material is: what got changed? In The Maze Runner, the answer is somewhat lengthy, but at the same time I could easily tell you that if you glanced over the major bullet points of the book, the film covers each one and it does it in a way that you probably imagined it. Essentially, this is James Dashner's novel come to life. There are a few smaller things changed here or there (i.e. a non spoiler example would be that in the film no one has ever seen a Griever before and lived whereas in the novel, many people had seen Grievers before). Many of the changes are minute ones such as that and honestly, I completely agreed with almost each and every change that was made. Some of the more fantastical elements of Dashner's work have been altered to be more realistic and they were welcome additions as those aspects were some of my least favorite parts of otherwise fantastic novels. Some fans may have issues with it, but I doubt many will.

That's her best "Kristen Stewart" impersonation.
Spot on!

More importantly however is how well the movie nails the characters. Each main Glader is almost identical to their novel counterpart here and by the time the credits rolled I was very impressed with the casting of the film. Mihno was the only one who shocked me a bit at first (I had always pictured him as a larger, beefier dude in the novels), but I soon warmed to his portrayal. But the gang: Newt, Gally, Chuck, Alby, Theresa, and Frypan are all near splitting images of how I imagined them in the book, especially Chuck. The one that impressed me the most however, was Dylan O'Brien as the main character, Thomas. I've never heard of the actor before now, but he does really, really well here. There wasn't a moment where I thought, "Ah, he broke character a bit." In the book Thomas is written as a scared, strong, and confused character and O'Brien portrays that about as well as any fan could have hoped for. His ascension to leadership within the group is startlingly fast though when compared to the novel and I did think it was odd at times how he was bossing people around and he had only been there for 3 days. In the novel, it's a much more gradual process but I think that can mostly be attributed to the difference between book and film.

This scene would have been perfect had Forrest Gump
come from behind them and passed them...

Equally as impressive is the film's realization of the world and the maze itself. There is A LOT of mystery in this series, which, like LOST, often leads to a lot of exposition. You should be paying attention when people are talking and things that happened in the first film will greatly be referenced in the second. I was happy that most of the Glader's "language" was replaced with actual curse words as I was always really annoyed with Dashner's made-up curse words and how immature they felt. But the Glade itself is fantastic, with every aspect being captured well. The maze is humongous and creates some stunning visuals that I imagine would be fantastic on IMAX. Furthermore, once inside the maze, it remains just like fans would have hoped. Surprisingly, the Grievers (large, part-mech, part-monster enemies) look and sound great, which was probably one of my biggest worries going in. There are a few action scenes, whether it be running in the maze or fighting Grievers off, that are filmed well and have much more impressive special effects than I was anticipating.

With regards to the ending, where some critics' biggest issues stem from, it's almost exactly like the novel's: abrupt, with a lot happening and a lot getting thrown at you in the way of exposition. Personally, I like it that way and the cliffhanger does a lot to again remind me of LOST (hopefully with the next movie installment we get a "Previously on The Maze Runner" intro!). I think the film does lack a certain sense of completion because of its swift and open ending, but like many of these YA novels, there is another one coming and you should already know that going in.

That wall is actually only 6 feet high. Thomas is just a
Hobbit

Young Adult movie adaptations live or die based on their ability to accurately convey the material that they are based on, at least with the fans. For the film to be good in the first place, the material has to be there and I would argue, now 2.5 books into the 4 book series, that The Maze Runner definitely has the material. Could it all fall apart by the time I finish? Absolutely. But for now, it's a series I would highly recommend.

As far as the movie is concerned, fans should rejoice as it's right up there with Harry Potter and The Hunger Games with respect to great adaptations. I would even make the argument that, as a first film in a series, The Maze Runner is slightly better than the first The Hunger Games. But that might just be me.

For those that haven't read the book, you will still have an enjoyable time at the cinema...The Maze Runner is paced well and stays exciting throughout, although you may just feel like you got clubbed over the head with information by the end of it.

I was definitely nervous going into this one, but The Maze Runner has dashed ahead in my mind and will most likely be a quiet favorite of mine by the time that 2014 is over.

CONS:

• Thomas's rise to leadership is not as nurtured and cultivated in the film as it reads in the novels. After three days he is barking orders and a few times it feels out of place
• A large ending event is altered slightly, but the alteration leads to complications with the rest of the franchise. Or at least that's how I see it. I'm concerned with how they will explain it later on
• Non-readers of the series have a lot of listening to do and, unbeknownst to them, a lot of remembering to do for future installments
• A bit too much shaky cam at times
• The film skims over some of the larger mystery reveals at the end

PROS:

• The maze is beautifully realized and almost a character in and of itself. Great special effects
• Impressive Grievers!
• I would say that 95% of the changes from the book are actually improvements. My favorite being the elimination of almost all the annoying "fake-cursing" from the novel
• Each and every character is casted to near perfection. Truly a job well done
• Dylan O'Brien as Thomas was like he was torn from the pages of the book. Fantastic casting and portrayal of a core character
• Very exciting running scene through the maze as it's shifting
• Strong original score
• The source material deserves a shout out here. As much as some may disagree, it avoids many of the pitfall clichés that plague so many YA of today
• The film, much like the novels, feels like a great episode of LOST. There are many mysteries and you just want to know the answers
• The film does at least one thing FAR better than The Hunger Games films and that's death. I feel like so many main character deaths in The Hunger Games films are oddly swift, with little emotion or send off. The Maze Runner makes sure that you know the importance of each loss and, at times, can emotionally feel the loss
• Once again, non-readers of the series may disagree with my final score. But fans of the novel will should be overjoyed that this adaptation to the big screen was  as well done as we could have hoped for



Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10