The.Maze.Runner.2014

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.

Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in "The Glade" for two years, trying to find a way to escape through the Maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change. There are some great, fast-paced action scenes, particularly those involving the nightmarish Grievers who plague the boys.

User Reviews

This is a movie that fits in the same category as "The Hunger Games" where you see young and confused teenagers, selected by their cuteness and put in extraordinary situations where they work out every single one of their problems by following the reasoning, morals and values of a typical western society. You will get ritualistic fights for attaining the alpha-male status, loosely contoured feelings about what is morally acceptable or not, campfires and other gimmicks that enhance the feeling of being part of the herd, the struggle of the individual in a western society, ritualistic commemorations, genesis of hierarchical structures, a mild and unbelievable story of self-discovery and all the other traits of a really bland, boring and ridiculous movie.

No less, the movie is a boy-scout flick, similar to that grotesque "Hunger Games" movie but this time ripping off "The Cube" - for the very small part of what can be considered "Sci-Fi" in this movie. Perhaps it has been mis-categorized, or perhaps people are so used to see teens acting out their hormones on the wide-screen, that this trash fiction movie got labeled as "Sci-Fi". If you have seen your share of movies, you will be reminded of "Mad Max", "Waterworld", "The Postman" and you will wonder what was the final straw that made us get to such a point where boilerplate concoctions of plagiarized ideas (from here and there) are served to us as an exciting novelty. If you came for "Sci-Fi", you will feel compelled to fast-forward the movie and get rid of the senseless hormonal ramblings that are aside the point and completely irrelevant to the main plot.

The characters are improperly contoured and lack any sort of background. This would be alright, if intended, but only if the movie would have focused on the action, rather than a display of teen angst. Otherwise, if the display of teen angst would be the point, then a background is necessary. Given that most of the movie consists of shallow dialog between the characters, as a viewer, you find it difficult to empathize and relate to them.

I am still under the impression that these movies are, in-fact, written by robots designed by the NSA to brainwash the planet - otherwise, I really cannot explain how come every single phrase that is spoken has already been heard in other movies. Phrases such as: "I can't feel my legs." or "We must do what's right." get thrown around abundantly in about every single narration where the average age of the cast is below 30. As for stereotypical action sequences, if I see staggering teens running away from a monster again, I think I'll finally loose my marbles.

A reminder that TV and trash fiction make a poor substitute for culture.

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