THE MAZE RUNNER DVD (2014) |
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SYNOPSIS: In this thrilling action-adventure based on the best-selling novel, a teenager named Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) wakes up trapped in a massive, ever-changing maze with a group of other boys who have no memory of the outside world. Facing dangerous obstacles at every turn, Thomas must piece together clues he discovers within the maze in order to figure out his true purpose—and find a way out before it's too late.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The Maze Runner marks yet another dystopian teen action flick after The Hunger Games and Divergent to cross the finishing line with impressive box-office results.
However, the largely similar plot whereby good-looking teens rebelling against the higher authority has sadly been overused for the past years and to make matters worse, The Maze Runner offers no worthy exposition and a cliffhanger that throws you with more questions than answers.
In the opening credits, the viewers are introduced to a youth (Dylan O’Brien) who is woken up in a place, enclosed by stonewalls called the Glade. Shortly, we learnt that the youth is named Thomas and for whatever unexplained reasons, the Glade is surrounded by a vast Maze and no one has successfully attempt to escape. Deadly gigantic electro-robotic creatures dubbed the Grievers roam the Maze by the way if you are curious why the attempts failed.
As expected, Thomas believes there’s a way to escape the Glade not without facing oppression from the existing guys especially Gally (Will Poulter), the enforcer of the Gale. Will Thomas manage to escape without being killed by the Grievers or in this case Gally, whoever comes first? And what is the mystery behind the setup?
The Maze Runner is liked the 21st century answer to the Nobel-prize winning novel Lord of the Flies but without the substance and character analysis. Director Wes Ball making his directorial feature here works hard to engage the audiences with some amazing visuals and set pieces which frequently involve some of the boys running around the maze and escaping from the Grievers. Well, it’s no doubt a compelling and terrifying experience since most of action took place at night although it fails to hold any attention when the movie reverts back to the boys and their boring conflicts.
The appearance of the only girl in the entire cast, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) at the more than halfway mark hardly turns up the notch except being a limp plot device to conclude the first chapter of the trilogy.
As a young adult movie, it more than suffices to entertain. It’s generally well executed and featured a likeable cast. The only down point is if you are not a fan of the books by James Dashner then the notion of another post-apocalyptic movie (that doesn’t explained a lot) might just turned you off.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The extras include Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Wes Ball with also an Audio Commentary by Wes Ball and Co-screenwriter T.S. Nowlin which makes for a casual listen and a pretty pointless Still Galleries.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 served up a nice mix of ambient sound effects and surround activity while visually, The Maze Runner looks amazingly sharp on DVD even during the movie’s night scenes and moments of peril in the dark.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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