Book to Box Office: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

2014

Directed by Wes Ball

Starring Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter

Based on the novel by James Dashner

IMBD Synopsis:

Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they’re all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow “runners” for a shot at escape.

 

My Review:

As far as recent book to film adaptations, The Maze Runner had some major plot changes. I’m usually not against changes for film, and I agree with most of the scripted changes in the plot of this film. However, the most noticeable alteration was the timeline. Things moved extremely quickly in the film. Instead of three months, things were happening in three days. The change seemed unnecessary and much less believable, even for fiction.  The amount of knowledge Thomas discovered in three days after landing with no memory in a jungle full with wary boys, it hardly seems feasible, and therefore less entertaining to fantasize.

The other major change was the discovery of the exit to the maze. It is much more complicated in the book than in the film. The book’s solution required years of knowledge and mapping, cunning and teamwork. In the film, Thomas was even more of a superhero and was able to find a single clue that led them to the answer. I understand for the sake of movement in film and time limits, this change wasn’t altogether a horrible mistake. It had its merits and was an interesting concept, but I wish there had been more a of a team effort to to match the novels motif.

AND, since I can’t wait to mention it, the grievers; they were so completely different than what I imagined in the book. I can’t deny that I was a little disappointed. I got the impression that the filmmakers were a little bit lazy with this aspect of the movie. Making the grievers resemble giant mechanical spiders seemed like an easy fix to the complex and entirely original monster that Dashner described in his books. Then again, they were satisfyingly disgusting and terrifying. Many moviegoers commented that they didn’t believe the film would be so graphic in this way. I would like to believe the filmmakers mad this choice then to appease the faint-hearted moviegoers, and not because of a lazy, creative slump.

All of these things aside, the movie wasn’t too bad. It was certainly an  edge-of-the-seat kind of movie. The way it was filmed at just the right angle to make the maze looming, terrifying, and constantly ready to snap shut with its victim inside – well, that was pretty good. The maze felt alive, something that breathed, almost more so than the grievers. The casting was  a mix of ‘great’ and ‘okay’. O’Brien in the lead role was good, but lacked the frustrations of his curiosity and the unknown. Part of this I’m sure is the way the film was scripted, but it would have been nice to see O’Brien interpret some of that into his role instead of solely playing the stubborn and often ignorant hero. Alby, played by Alm Ameen, was broody and generous and a bit scared at all times. This is much how I imagined his character in the book. Lastly, Gally, played by Will Poulter, was a bit underdeveloped in my opinion, again due to scripting. Poulter did a good job with the role despite the scripting being a little generic. Thomas’s first interaction with Gally didn’t convince me that they would hate each other, yet that’s what audiences were led to believe.

Teresa’s role was even worse in the film than in the book. If they were only going to include the girl to cause trouble and not actually help solve anything, they should have left her out of the script entirely. That’s all I want to say about that.

Along with some well-chosen actors, the set design was amazing. I loved the layout of the maze and the glade. I actually liked it better than I had imagined it from my reading. And the costumes were another good feature of the film, the drab colors and similar design foreshadowed a bit to the organization that put the boys there and the reason.

This film is difficult to rate. The film alone was entertaining and I enjoyed watching it (two times actually). However, in comparison to the book, it made some unsatisfactory changes and failed to address my concerns about sexism from the book, actually making the situation worse. Am I the only one with this concern? I haven’t heard much talk about it elsewhere. Besides that, I would recommend the film to moviegoers, and I have heard many great responses to the film. As for fans of the book, be warned that it might not be what you expected, but it certainly isn’t a total failure. There are many redeeming qualities about this film in terms of its adaptation from the book.

I give The Maze Runner a 2.5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

by James Dashner

Published by Delacorte Press

374 pages

 

Goodreads Synopsis:

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers–boys whose memories are also gone.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out–and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

My Review: 

What if the world you hated was better than the world you desired – you just didn’t know it yet?

Dashner poses a unique threat to a semi-post-apocalyptic premise.  The harrowing tales of a group of boys who supposedly have been surviving in what they call the Glade for nearly two years, is unique in the sense that haven and danger stand side-by-side in this unpredictable tale.

The story lets in on the action, no background, just a boy who has only his name and no other memories. He’s welcomed to the Glade by a large group of boys about his age, and all he knows that this place is dangerous. How dangerous, though, he has no idea. The other boys seem to refuse to answer Thomas’s questions and since his arrival in the Glade, he suspects even more at risk than anyone lets on, and somehow he now has a part in it.

The Maze Runner isn’t an entirely new concept, it follows much of the popular fiction that kids have loved for years, but it does bring something new and fascinating to the story – puzzles. The whole book is like an abstract image you have to try to piece together. It can be a challenging read for some as there is so little information given throughout the story, especially in the beginning. The maze is just as fascinating and terrifying to the readers as it is to the characters, but mostly it is just infuriating. How many dead ends can you run into? Reader empathy is not too difficult with this book.

I mostly enjoyed the mazes of the book. Just like the boys struggled with the maze, readers struggled with the plot and all that it witheld.

However, there were some shortcomings to this book that I have a hard time overlooking. First, all the boys are considered geniuses. Well, there was never an explanation as to why all boys were chosen. There might be a very reasonable explanation, but Dashner so far has not offered anything to the readers. The only time a girl arrives, she is there to disrupt everything and mostly regarded in terms of her beauty. As a female reader, I’m trying not to find this text a bit sexist, but there was just so little explanation. Second, all the boys are considered geniuses, but they really didn’t prove that they knew that much. In fact, most of the time they seemed pretty clueless. Perhaps they shouldn’t have been described as genius, but rather courageous, because that they were. They were brave, but nearly to the point of stupidity. They endured a lot of misery over two years and still had the strength to carry on, but I’m not entirely convinced they were geniuses.

Some final thoughts – I loved the idea of the grievers. I’m intensely curious to see how they are portrayed in the upcoming film. I thought these were some incredibly creative monsters. Absolutely horrifying. It had this book  balancing on the genres of supernatural thriller, mystery, and horror all at once.

And lastly, the ending of this book was fantastic, horrible, but the perfect shock to put any dedicated reader into a coma for at least an hour.

There’s a lot more I could talk about with this novel, but I’m going to end it here. Comment or email if you want to talk about it more!

 

I give The Maze Runner by James Dashner 4 out of 5 stars.