The Maze Runner Movie Review: Movie Adaptation of the Best-selling Sci-Fi Novel

What would you do when you find yourself in a maze without an exit? This is exactly what happened in The Maze Runner movie directed by Wes Ball. The 20th Century Fox released The Maze Runner in the United States on September 19, 2014. This movie was made based on the best-selling novel by James Dashner. The age rating is PG-13. The running time is about one hour and fifty-three minutes or 113 minutes. The screenplay was composed by T.S Nowlin, Grant Pierce Myers, and Noah Oppenheim. The Maze Runner is known as Mystery and Sci-fi movie.

The casts are Dylan O’ Biren (Thomas), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Newt), Kaya Scodelario (Teresa), Will Poulter (Gally), Ki Hong Lee (Minho), Blake Cooper (Chuck), Dexter Darden (Frypan), Jacob Latimore (Jeff), Aml Ameen (Alby), Joe Adler (Zart), Randall D. Cunningham (Clint), Chris Sheffield (Ben), Alexander Flores (Winston). Overall, this is a marvelous movie because it assembled positive content and meaningful movie to watch.

In fact, the total budget for this movie was thirty-four million USD. However, the film became trendy, which help them acquired up to three-hundred and forty-eight USD and consider it as they made more money than their budget. Compare to the Hunger Game’s budget, this film budget is acceptable because it is not excessively high or low.

A teenage boy named Thomas, who woke up in the elevator without remembering his memories except for his name. He found himself enclosed by other teenaged boys, who came here before him and known as the Gladders. Alby, the leader of the Glade welcomes him to join their group. A few days later, Theresa arrives, the only girl sent to the Glade. With Thomas’s intelligent, he believes there is a way out of the Glade. Together with Theresa, both come up with plans to help their group out of the Glade. “Surrounded by extremely high stone walls covered in thick ivy, the Glade is a large square piece of land with a few wood and concrete buildings. In each of the surrounding four walls, there is a narrow opening.” (“Litcharts”). This quote illustrates where the Gladders are captured in and a description of how the Glade looks. Dylan O’Brience’s excellent acting skills, he won both the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and MTV Movie Award for Best Hero. In addition, he and Will Poulter in this film received MTV Movie Award Best Fight.

The soundtrack is extremely intense playing by the combination of both Orchestra and Band in the finale of the film. It starting light by the piano and the harmony of the orchestra. This sound illustrates sorrowful emotions, but a peaceful closing. Suddenly, the band joined and make the sound louder and intense to demonstrates a new outset begin for them. The costumes the actress wore were runner outfits or casual outfits. These outfits look suitable and delightful.

This film is unique because the actresses are diverse. There are rarely movies that have actresses in different kinds of races. Due to the diversity, it leads the movie to stand out differently and unique compared to other movies. The make-up for the actresses was natural. When Newt got infected by the virus, they did an excellent job on the make-up because they make it look realistic.

Director Wes Ball Works with method Studio Vancouver to create the maze that Thomas and the other Gladders find themselves in along with the relentless grievers that chase them. The film was shot on location and much of the exterior running action was done with careful attention given to make sure that the shadows of where the giant maze would be cast correctly over the actors...as complex as the moving parts of the maze were for method’s studio…grievers actually were so complicated they required an entire new creature pipeline to develop. Creatures might have evolved the structure detailed and worked out to allow the weight distribution to move correctly and the range of movement to be believable.

This quote illustrates how the convoluted structures for cinematography works and the special effects were made form. The movie is made with artifice and delicacy by highly developed technology.

“All of which brings us to the ending. Man, that ending. What a misstep. It’s so incredibly frustrating, because everything was going so well until then.” (“Lemire”). This quote shows the movie has sorrowful ending. I agree with this quote think the ending of the film is miserable.

“Despite its familiar tropes, the film boasts a strong cast, numerous heart-in-mouth action moments, and a truly terrifying monster in the giant metallic spiderlike creatures that lurk within the maze, making it a solid and thoroughly enjoyable little adventure story.” (“Another YA”). This quote explains the impression of a thriller throughout the movie. The horrifying parts of the movie entertain the audience with the excitement and heartbeat rhythmically. In conclusion, The Maze Runner was a wonderful movie to watch because it assembled a meaningful movie to watch and positive content.