The Maze Runner (2014)

For a film that is budgeted at merely 34 million dollars, this film visually looks really good. For comparison, Fantastic Four had a budget of 120 million and the effects and so called 'set pieces' were awful. This is one of the biggest problems with Hollywood, but that's a discussion for another day. The Maze Runner is actually a surprisingly entertaining movie. For an age in which the medium is flooded with young adult novels and movies, the film feels fresh and isn't overwhelmed by clichés like so many others are.

It's led by a relatively unknown cast. Dylan O'Brien, from Teen Wolf fame, is thrown into a maze structure along with a few dozen other young men who soon find there is more to the maze than they were led to believe. Let me be the first to say I think O'Brien has some chops and definitely has a future in this business. The role doesn't require a ton of range, but I think he proved he can lead a huge action film, and not many actors can say that. The writing itself I thought could have been a little smarter and more mature. Will Poulter, who played a much different character in We're The Millers, was solid in the role that was given to him. But the writing had him doing some really stupid things and was full of forced dialogue I felt.

With that being said, the mythology behind the story is pretty interesting. And they made the film into a more traditional monster film than I'm sure the book originally called for, but it really works. The horror element to the film was by far the most intriguing, and had the biggest payoff. The 'Greavers' also proved to be pretty terrifying, something I didn't think I would say about a film with a bunch of teenagers. So I really only watched this because I'm probably going to see the sequel this weekend, and i ended up enjoying the movie. Plus, having Littlefinger as the next villain gets me pretty excited.

+Monster flick

+Surprisingly well acted

+Suspensful

-Some stupid dialogue

7.2/10