The Maze Runner

Mr E · 19-03-2014 10:56am #1

I thought there was a Maze Runner thread here (with a bad trailer), but I can't find it.

Anyway, the first 'proper' trailer is out and it renews my confidence. Looks pretty good, and the book was decent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-iSYVmMVY

the baby bull elephant · 19-03-2014 8:33pm

I haven't read the book but what I've heard sounds intriuging. Also really like the cast especially Dylan O'Brien who's shown himself to be quite capable on tv. So will definitely give this a look.

Irish Aris · 13-10-2014 12:15pm

Saw this last night, having a very vague idea of what is about and not expecting much.

I found it quite good. Very dark at times, quite fast (I didn't get bored at all, as there was always something happening), decently acted and offered some nice thrills - and one basic ethical (sic) questions towards the end -

around the Patricia Clarkson video

Obviously not for all tastes, but quite entertaining nontheless. I assume that, based on its success, we will see the other books into films too.

constitutionus · 16-10-2014 3:20pm

i wasnt expecting much and REALLY liked it.

virtual cast of unknowns. all i knew was yer man from game of thrones that was a chisler in "love actually" and the bloke that played "kenny" in "meet the millers"

its a bizarre mix of lord of the flies and an old PS2 video game called "ICO" to me and i thought they did a fair old job on the foreboding front.

in fact i came out thinking thats exactly the sort of thing i'dve loved to have seen as a 12yr old, but still had a good time as a 40 odd aul fella.

visually its lovely looking, the cast do a good job, the intrigue and tension builds nicely and to top it off at just under 2hrs it doent leave your arse numb.

like dracula untold it was a pleasant surprise, and i wouldnt mind the sequel thats hinted.

7/10 from me.

Loughc · 16-10-2014 5:26pm

Sequel is due to be released 18th September 2015.

sadie06 · 19-10-2014 5:26pm

I took my 11 year old son to see it, and just be warned, it pushes to the outer edges of what is acceptable for a 12A movie IMO. There are some genuinely scary and tense moments. The camera cuts away just in time to avoid certain gruesome ends, but quickly returns to show the aftermath, which in one scene is quite upsetting. I read that they were originally given a 15's rating and had to do a hasty re-edit, and it doesn't surprise me.

All that being said, I thought this was a very good movie, with terrific acting and a challenging theme for young adults. My son loved it, despite having to look though his fingers several times. I'd give it a 7/10 within its specific genre.

pixelburp · 20-10-2014 2:04pm

I guess it doesn't help that I'm nowhere near the age-bracket these type of films are aimed at (I'm 34), but holy god the idea of subtly must be an alien concept in the world of YA fiction. The premise itself always felt like a fairly overt case of wish-fulfillment for teenagers, but to have a scene where

a character openly addresses the cast, telling them how special they all are

just seemed on the nose and then some.

Myself and the GF only drifted in because there was nothing else on at that precise time, taking our seats with a fairly open mind. I thought the pace was pretty brisk , and was certainly on the harder-edge of PG-13 so parents beware, but overall the film smelt like yet another desperate case of trying to riff on the Hunger Games formula, with absolutely none of the spark or intelligence that made Katniss' story such a hit - with all ages. The plot of Maze Runner is utterly beset with plotholes, notwithstanding its already ludicrous premise; nothing made any sense and the characters just seemed to go from scene to scene spouting the worst kind of world-building exposition.

A little humour would have really gone a long way, but instead the whole thing was played with the straightest face, ultimately making scenes, that should have been dramatic, pretty laughable.

cloud493 · 20-10-2014 3:15pm

I thought it was pretty rubbish to be honest. Monsters weren't great, the characters were pretty cliched, as was the plot, and the single female character serves.. what purpose exactly?

Br4tPr1nc3 · 22-10-2014 1:13am

cloud493 wrote: »

I thought it was pretty rubbish to be honest. Monsters weren't great, the characters were pretty cliched, as was the plot, and the single female character serves.. what purpose exactly?

you'll see the reason for the single female part in film 2.

i read the book for this, well all 3. the film was alright,
but not nearly as good as the book,
a lot of details were left out, and for a roughly 100 min film, should have been done, theyy could have added the extra 20 mins and added a lot more.
there was stuff they added in to cover up the information they left out also which i found to be stupid.

either way, alright film, doesnt do the book anyy justice really.
although i am wanting to see what they do with the next two.

Fysh · 22-10-2014 9:33am

I saw it on the cheap because I had a free ticket that needed using this week and there was nothing else on at that particular cinema I wanted to see. TBH I'm bored rigid by the YA-novels-as-films thing, and the main reason I was interested in seeing this was the excellent work director Wes Ball put into his CGI short RUIN a few years ago.

This has a good cast but doesn't give them a lot to do. It has a potentially interesting premise and setting, but goes about dealing with it in lazy simplistic ways. It does, at least, look pretty - I particularly liked

the design of the Grievers, they reminded me of the SpiderDemons from Doom

. Storytelling was about as subtle as a brick to the bits, especially the

"you're all special snowflakes"

stuff.

Ultimately, it felt like a wasted opportunity. It seems like a mishmash of ideas borrowed from other, better films (it's basically Hunger Games mashed up with Lord of the Flies by way of The Cube, though in all cases any subtlety or thought-provoking ideas have been removed or neutered).

Personally, I wish I'd just watched RUIN again instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doteMqP6eSc

hawkwind23 · 22-10-2014 9:49am

im 40+ and it didnt really grab me , had a few layers but they were phoney and crass.
In saying that i kept reminding myself it was a teenager movie and i did feel entertained with the soundtrack and tense chase scenes.
As said above the perfect analogy is a mix between LOTF and Hunger Games done in a hurry and with little wit.

contrast that to my 16 year old daughter who loved it , really got the 4 main characters and was left quizzing over how they got there and what the next part was etc.

I summarised then that its perfect for this current X-Factor generation.

Too much focus on the trilogy and the money to be made than staying faithful to a deep,meaningful and lasting storyline.
Be interesting to hear the authors views on the translation from his book without the threat of legal action or confidentiality clauses

cloud493 · 22-10-2014 10:39am

I thought the monsters were terrible . The trailer might have in fact given too much, I already knew they'd see the monsters, and they'd progress from this scene cos... it was in the trailers. I mean sure they have to do that, cos a trailer like that shows the most exciting bits of a film, but it doesn't give you much tension.

Fysh · 22-10-2014 1:09pm

hawkwind23 wrote: »

Too much focus on the trilogy and the money to be made than staying faithful to a deep,meaningful and lasting storyline

I very much felt that to be a problem - the closing scene was a truly woeful infodump "Watch us set up the sequel and never mind that what we're saying is riddled with nonsense as far as the plot goes" sort of thing. I understand that film studios want to build viable film series, but when that happens at the expense of actually telling a story that's reasonably complete in and of itself they fail.

Maybe I'm just expecting too much of the material, but I've seen and read much better stories with similar sorts of premises (for instance I'd love to see this sort of budget assigned to an adaptation of Nancy Kress' "Beggars In Spain" series).

pixelburp · 22-10-2014 1:33pm

I laughed out loud when

the freedom fighter types rescued the oh-so special teenagers in a helicopter. A bloody HELICOPTER. That then proceeded to circle the Maze, as if to say 'yeah, we totally could have done this from the start and saved you all the trouble and death'.

It just seemed like a funny punctuation on those 10 minutes of effluent infodump. Also:

World Catastrophe Killzone Department???? C'mon, how could you not giggle?

cloud493 wrote: »

I thought it was pretty rubbish to be honest. Monsters weren't great, the characters were pretty cliched, as was the plot, and the single female character serves.. what purpose exactly?

To look quite similar to Kristen Stewart, just in case the film didn't feel derivative enough already.

But hey, looks like the teenyboppers loved it, so what do crusties like us know?

The Maze Runner

Comments