“The Maze Runner” left its audience stunned and a-mazed.
The new blockbuster, released in September, is a wondrous and thrilling adaptation of James Dashners post-apocalyptic novel. The movie overall was exciting, keeping the audience on the edge of their collective seats.
Of all the movies recently released so far this autumn, this tops my list. Featuring a strong, British dominated cast, I was shocked with the overall performance and strong acting.
As an American born and raised, I expected a British cast to be sorely lacking. With actors relatively unknown following the lead of Dylan O’Brien (star of Teen Wolf) as Thomas, the largely male cast struck on the emotional chords of the audience nationwide. The young adult movie was almost more successful than the “Hunger Games” despite also targeting the young adult audience. This might be attributed to having the lead actor being a guy, leaning strongly on the action to appeal to the male audience, and the lack of superstars in the cast.
The plot itself is eerily dark yet terribly intriguing. From the moment Thomas arrives in the Glade, the audience instantly senses that the boys’ world is not what it seems. In the sense of Lord of the Flies, those watching know that while what the boys have created cannot last. As their world falls apart, however, they find what they consider a new domain. Not all the boys are eager to leave what they know, and conflict arises. Go, watch this film and get lost in the tale.
Directors Wes Ball and Douglas Cumming both contributed all their abilities and experience to adapt this novel into a spectacular piece of art. Douglas Cumming’s creepy work and tone in his works have been well displayed this past month (“The Maze Runner,” Annabelle), and in this movie he is able to blend the thriller-like undertones of much darker work into “The Maze Runner” and it certainly worked.
This movie truly was a masterpiece and a very good first movie for director Wes Ball, who in my opinion should definitely take notes on Cummings approach—whatever secret the two guard to make this movie work clearly worked-raking in $73.9 million in just over two weeks.
What is a good review without mentioning special effects? Said effects in this film were very well done-stranding the audience in the maze itself and leaving them to face off against the Grievers. The effects, like that out of an Emmy-winning blockbuster, left you to face off against the monstrous, arachnid Grievers and their poisonous claws, in the shadow of the Maze, alone.
From the Glade to the Grievers, this movie couldn’t have been creepier.