Wes Ball’s The Maze Runner (adapted from a young adult novel of the same name) begins with an elevator rushing to a bright light at the top of a dark shaft. A teenager awakens surprised and afraid as the cabin thunderously rushes to the top. He doesn’t remember his name, background, or hometown. When the elevator reaches the top he realizes he is trapped in a small community surrounded by enormous concrete walls. The little town is inhabited by teenage boys who have all experienced the same thing. They arrive with no memories or understanding of where or why they are trapped.
Behind the concrete walls is a maze that opens every morning and closes that same night. The boys in the community send skilled ‘runners’ to map out the maze and attempt to find a way out. However, they must make it back before nightfall because inside the labyrinth the maze grievers, mechanical killer spiders, awaken to prey on any runners left inside. We are told no one has ever lasted overnight in the maze.
This concept, a cross between Lord of the Flies and Dark City, had me intrigued with many questions and awaiting an equally intriguing conclusion. Now I am still waiting. The film builds to a revelation, but is let down by a resolution that explains the essentials in a predictable expository speech that doesn’t even make sense of some of the smaller clues presented.
Paradoxically, we understand what is going on but are in the dark as to the significance and the connection between all the clues. More disappointingly, however, is that in the end, the reason for the entire fiasco was the first thought that came to my mind. My point is not that I’m smart, but that this movie is that shallow.
At times, the film hints at higher realms of science fiction by using the story to examine male nature or community break down; however, it eventually ignores this potential second layer to weave its charade of a plot.
The Maze Runner is science fiction with no subtext, a mystery without a satisfying resolution, and an action movie which utilizes the same tropes over and over (every ‘tense’ situation is either contrived from the closing walls and the characters needing to make it to the other side in time or a pop out scare with deafening sound design). It all seems like something you don’t want to see, but when it is evaluated in context alongside its peers, it doesn’t stoop to having schmaltzy pop songs thundering over make-out montages. There is no love story or developed characters that are later exploited for sentimentality’s sake — although one instance in the climax comes close — which is to say that Wes Ball could have made a worse movie.
Watching The Maze Runner is like paying to enter a corn maze where signs are posted showing you the exit, except that you must endure nearly two dull hours before escaping.
