Film The Maze Runner

[What 23]

IMDB 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes C: 63% U: 78%
Metacritic 56/100
CinemaScore A-

"The Maze Runner is a 2014 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Wes Ball, based on James Dashner's 2009 book of the same name. The film is the first installment in The Maze Runner film series and was produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, and Lee Stollman with a screenplay by Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin. The film stars Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee and Will Poulter.

The story follows sixteen-year-old Thomas, portrayed by O'Brien, who awakens in a rusty elevator with no memory of who he is, only to learn he's been delivered to the middle of an intricate maze, along with a slew of other boys, who have been trying to find their way out of the ever-changing labyrinth — all while establishing a functioning society in what they call The Glade. Principal photography began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on May 13, 2013 and officially concluded on July 12, 2013.

The Maze Runner was released on September 19, 2014 in the United States by 20th Century Fox. The film received mainly positive critical reviews, with praise aimed at the cast's performances as well as the film's intriguing premise and refreshingly dark tone. The film was also a commercial success, as it topped the box-office during its opening weekend with a $32.5 million debut, making it the sixth-highest grossing debut in September. A sequel, The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, is set be released on September 18, 2015 in the United States.[3][4]"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maze_Runner_(film)

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Found this to be one of the more entertaining movies I've seen in awhile. Its going to be part of a trilogy, at least. Considering there are prequel books, that's also a possibility. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

 

[ForEverAfter]

Can you give us a little more of an indication as to why you liked it? Like, what other film/s did it remind you of? and what demographic would it appeal to? (It seems like a bit of a "tween"/"young adult" flick.) Cutting and pasting mostly irrelevant Wikipedia information into a thread and indicating that you enjoyed it doesn't quite work as a recommendation, for me.

I'm a little wary, considering the huge Box Office pull and the relatively bad reviews, but I love science-fiction and I've been wrong/surprised many times before... So, I haven't completely ruled it out... It sounds a lot like "The Hunger Games" trilogy...?

The film received mainly positive critical reviews

This isn't true. It received average/mixed reviews (56/100) on Metacritic and average/mixed reviews (59/100) on Rotten Tomatoes. It did receive "mainly positive" user reviews, but that's often a warning sign (when it contrasts with the critics)... especially with cult stuff like superhero adaptations and adaptations of young adult novels.

 

[What 23]

There were some things I had to forgive to keep from being too critical. The acting was mostly good, but not certain parts. There was a scene at the end that I shook my head, internally, at.

It reminds me a little of the matrix. A little of Lost. Hunger games as well, but I actually liked it better.

I'm not always great at saying why I like something, and I tend to like some things others might not, or be really critical of (like the new RoboCop). I may write more later, but I have to go to work.

 

[ForEverAfter]

There's no need to elaborate further. That's more than enough information. I hated Lost and first The Hunger Games, and I - generally - have a bad feeling about this film, so I'm going to give it a miss. As for your tendency to like things that "others might not", that's a human trait. It's not just you. Everybody has different tastes. That's why I asked you to articulate a little bit more specifically about what you liked and didn't like.

Robocop is a good example. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the remake, considering how much respect I have for Paul Verhoeven. It's not "as good" as the original, but they're very different films and they shouldn't be directly compared. As a stand-alone film, without the titular branding, Robocop (2014) would have been better received by critics. The fact that it was a remake of a classic film, meant that it was destined to be under-rated.

I feel the same way about the Star Wars prequel trilogy. They're not great films. They're not even good. But they certainly aren't the abomination they're made out to be. In my opinion, The Phantom Menace is a better film - in every conceivable way - than Guardians of the Galaxy. Neither film is particularly good. Guardians simply did better, critically, because it wasn't being compared directly to something of an impossibly high standard.

 

[What 23]

One thing that probably drew my attention more was that the main character's name is Thomas, which is my last name. Not a big deal, and it is a common name. Then he went to a wall of names to carve his name into it, and my first name (Jeff) can be seen immediately to his left. Then he and this character play together rather interestingly throughout the film, but I don't want to reveal too much detail or spoil the movie. It was like an added bonus for me me. Something else to focus on. The name immediately to his right at the wall is Aiden, which means fiery, warm, bringer of fire, and is a name of a Celtic sun god. The sun- something about it/that it did is part of the background of the story.

Not a big spoiler but details about the story that might be better gotten in the movie.

NSFW:

One part of the story is that it is in a future where the sun has scorched the earth.

 

[What 23]

Yea- you're right. We all like different things. I also didn't think the SW prequels were all that bad. Rather enjoyed them.