"The Maze Runner" Not Just Another "Hunger Games"
Connor Strange
Co-Editor-in-Chief
By its trailers and upon its exposition, “The Maze Runner” appeared to be more of the same teen fiction found atop bookcases and on the silver screen. For someone who hadn’t read the novel series, it was nothing terribly exciting.
However, the film proved those premonitions false with an original premise that had a certain “Lord of the Flies” feel and an immense cast made individual by skillful writing.
The movie begins with a hectic elevator ride and a ring of boys surrounding the freshly-awoken protagonist, later revealed to be named Thomas (Dylan O’Brien). All of the boys found themselves in the center of a massive and deadly labyrinth, only remembering their first names.
Thomas quickly makes waves among the members of the stranded society, meeting the amiable leader, Alby (Aml Ameen), and his second-in-command, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). Upon his introduction, he finds that the crew of teenage boys divvy up tasks between groups - some to scan the maze, the rest to do various tasks to survive. Survival seems to be the only goal, but Thomas has his mind set on escape.
At first, the movie seems to try a little too hard to be hip with the kids. Everything has one-word nicknames ending with -er (e.g. “runners”, “grievers”) and the premise comes off as stereotypically teen fiction. Fortunately, the quality characters (although lacking a large amount of development) and an increasingly complex plotline displays the film’s originality. This gritty maze isn’t just Panem with a makeover.
Its writing is clumsy at times, but more often than not it holds its own with intense action and enjoyable dialogue. Many characters are continual one-trick ponies, the greatest example being Gally (Will Poulter). His contribution to the film is such that he could simply be named “angry and difficult guy”. And at some more hectic points of action, it is near-impossible to discern which character was which. Despite those minor flaws, the movie continues to keep the viewer’s attention. And many of its characters aren’t so one-dimensional as Gally, like the maze runner Minho (Ki Hong Lee). His role is multifaceted, and it produced a highly likeable character.
Not only is the writing for Minho exceptional, but the acting by Ki Hong Lee contributes to a highly individual character among a sea of sameish survivalists. And, to his credit, Will Poulter portrays an excellent “angry and difficult guy” as Gally, despite lackluster character depth. However, the star of the show is the star of the show - Dylan O’Brien shows huge acting potential in his role as Thomas.
Though the film seems more than a little catered toward teenage boys, its heavily “Lord of the Flies”-esque themes and heart-thumping action scenes can be enjoyed by anyone who doesn’t mind a little gore.
Through solid writing and emotional acting “The Maze Runner” proved that it was more than a dime-a-dozen in a world swamped with endless teen survival stories.
