20th Century FoxThe Maze Runner is on track to debut with $30 million or more—but is it worth seeing?
The 20th Century Fox movie, in theaters tomorrow, was adapted from the first novel in James Dashner's best-selling trilogy. Directed by Wes Ball, it stars Dylan O'Brien as Thomas, a boy who wakes up trapped in a maze. The other boys there have created a society with three basic principles: be helpful, don't hurt anyone and don't go behind the walls. Thomas has no memory of the outside world other than dreams about a mysterious organization known as W.C.K.D. If he hopes to survive, his only option is to escape.
The movie also stars Aml Ameen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Patricia Clarkson, Blake Cooper, Alexander Flores, Ki Hong, Jacob Latimore, Will Poulter, Thomas Sangster,Kaya Scodelario and Chris Sheffield.
Here's what critics have to say about The Maze Runner:
• Variety's Ella Taylor says The Maze Runner "feels refreshingly low-tech and properly story-driven." She also notes that "much of the action unfolds in a large field." Plus, she writes, "the spidery thingies that crawl out of the woodwork" to torture the boys "have an old-fashioned, bio-mechanical charm." Though the "pacing drags a bit" in the beginning, Taylor writes that The Maze Runner tells "an old-fashioned American tale of one boy whose resourceful courage, refusal to obey rules and emergent leadership skills carry a raggedy army of prisoners to freedom and responsibility for a catastrophically fallen world."
• "The Maze Runner's similarities to well-known literary works (Nineteen Eighty-Four and Lord of the Flies among them) and speculative fiction thrillers (Logan's Run, Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, for instance) are almost more reassuring than disconcerting," The Hollywood Reporter's Justin Lowe writes. "In fact, it's this recurrent sense of familiarity rather than any distinct originality that makes the film consistently engaging, although never outright challenging." Praising the first-time director, he adds, "Aside from some uneven handling of the cast, Ball competently styles the action sequences throughout the film."
• Time's Richard Corliss calls the movie "surprisingly sharp" and draws comparisons to the "harrowing tests" the protagonists face in The Hunger Games and Divergent. "It's a sadistic teacher's version of P.E.—if that stood for Punishment and Exhaustion—or maybe Fatal Recess," he writes. However, Corliss was dissatisfied with the ending, which predictably sets up a possible franchise. "Escape they must...It all leads up to what should be the movie's climax but is instead a long teaser for a sequel, still in the planning stage—as if the projectionist had switched reels at precisely the wrong moment," he opines.
• HitFix's Drew McWeeny praises Poulter for "making a great transition from being a promising kid actor... to a genuinely interesting adult." Scodelario, meanwhile, "is just as interesting to watch here as she has been since her introduction in the original UK version of Skins. She's more of a story device than a real character, though, so much of what makes her interesting is that natural gravitas that Scodelario has in everything," McWeeny writes. He notes that leading man O'Brien is clearly "the young star-in-the-making who shoulders the most weight here, and he seems like a capable performer. This is a largely physical role, and he throws himself into it with an aggression that helps sell the reality of the world."
• "There's no love triangle and no lengthy flashbacks of elders barfing up loads of mythology and exposition. It may be sad to consider this an accomplishment, but after years (years!) of having our standards systematically lowered by a ceaseless tsunami of Young Adult adaptations, The Maze Runner's spry pace is noticeable and appreciated," The Guardian's Jordan Hoffman argues. He notes that movie "has a sly way of seeming propulsive, even if not much happens." He took issue with other aspects, too. "All of the performances (particularly Ameen's) are top-notch. The filmmaking, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired. The score is horrendous, and the sound design hasn't an ounce of subtlety. The overall production design—including the opening titles—looks a lot more like TV than a feature film."