In his feature debut, director Wes Ball runs the risk of getting lost in the gamut of fantastical big-screen YA adaptations. Fortunately, The Maze Runner does a fair bit to break from the pack, even if it doesn’t rise above them. The Maze is the star of the show, and Ball knows how to portray it as a terrifying force half an hour before we see anyone enter. Once inside, the anticipation pays off with well-timed set pieces that will thrill anyone with even a mild case of claustrophobia, agoraphobia, or a fear of that mechanical spider baby thing from Toy Story. (The less you know, the better.)
Focused on (mostly) teen boys with amnesia, the story throws up a lot of questions only to have them linger in mid-air for most of the movie. In between this confusion, the group becomes more torn, unable to decide whether they should risk running the maze or live in the safe zone forever. It’s an interesting dynamic that, unfortunately, plays out with very little build-up, undermining the tension of their final decision. When the lingering questions finally drop in the last ten minutes, it fumbles the landing with an overload of exposition that doesn’t reward our patience.
Because of this, The Maze Runner won’t be known for blending smarts with excitement, a la The Hunger Games. However, it does provide flawed-but-fun entertainment for a young male audience, a la some kind of Dude-vergent.
