This is a short review of The Maze Runner but....SPOILER ALERT!!!

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2016)

"The Maze Runner" is an a-maze-ing movie The maze runner is a 114-minute film that is directed by Wes Ball. The main characters in the movie are Daniel O'Brien as Thomas, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt, Ki Hong Lee as Minho, Kaya Scodelario as Teresa, Will Poulter as Gally, Aml Ameen as Alby and Blake Cooper as Chuck Wes Ball has released this movie The Maze Runner as an adaptation of the novel by James Dashner written in 2009. The movie is about a teenage boy named Thomas. He awakens in an elevator, clueless about how he ended up here he is put into a world with around 35 – 40 teenage boys that also have no memories of their past. They are trapped in world surrounded by a maze. Thomas is forced to follow a set of rules and learn how to survive in this enclosed world. With a new boy being sent every thirty days with new supplies the group of people in "the glade" had been there for three years, searching for a way out through the maze. The maze is surrounded by cyborg creatures known as Grievers. The entrance would close and the maze would reshape every night, blocking some passages and creating new ones. When the boys had finally started giving up trying to find a way out of the maze a very surprising incident occurs dividing the group into two factions, those willing to risk their lives and fight their way through the maze and those who aren't willing to lose what they have already and just survive as they had been doing over three years. At the start of the movie Thomas is in disbelief and refuses to build friendship with the other Gladers. As we went through the movie Thomas became more attached to the environment and the other Gladers. Chuck was the only one he could call his friend and share his thoughts with. Further through the movie, Thomas had become the most heroic figure in The Glade. He had survived a whole night inside the maze itself which was never done before. Near the end of the movie, Thomas had led a group of Gladers out of the maze and known as a brave leader. Thomas gotten braver and courageous as he went through his journey to finally escape the maze. The Maze Runner is a young adult post-apocalyptic science fiction movie that contains violence, sci-fi and thrill making it a PG13 movie aimed at teenagers and young adults.
The director did a terrible job of copying the book since about half of the information and scenes from the book were left out in the movie. For example, in the book Thomas could talk to Teresa telepathically, this is a major part of the story in the book but in the movie, this trait is not included or mentioned. The film didn't give the audience who are unfamiliar with the other characters, enough information about them. The actors in the movie are chosen or customized based on the characters from the book. The actors are excellent for their roles since each of them show the same characteristics as the characters from the book. The costumes that the actors wear in the movie are briefly based from the book. The costumes stay the same for each character throughout the whole movie. The costumes can tell us more about what's going on in the story if we pay close attention to it. For example, the first scene of the movie shows Thomas inside a dark, metal elevator rising to enter the Glade. When the elevator comes to a halt, Gally opens the elevator, exposing Thomas to the bright light and exposing the Gladers and the audience to Thomas. In this scene, his shirt is soaking wet and his hair is drenched with sweat giving us the idea that he had been in the elevator for a very long time. The Gladers all wear long sleeve shirts and long pants suggesting that the Glade is a cold place.
The lighting used in The Maze Runner is carefully placed by the filmmakers to tell us more about the story without using dialogues. Lighting can set the mood and draw attention to certain people or things. A red light starts flashing on top of Thomas when he is in the elevator suggesting danger or telling him that he has finally reached the end of the lift. This leaves a slight suspense to the audience who start wondering where Thomas will end up. When he is released into the community there is a wide shot of the Glade with Thomas standing exactly in the middle. The camera is angled so Thomas looks like a minor ant in front of the walls that surround him. The beautiful greenery and blue sky of the Glade is revealed to the audience. On the other hand, the filmmakers had made the walls of the maze surrounding the Glade dark and dull clearly pointing out that it's a much different place compared to the Glade. Sound was used throughout the movie for mood. An example of this in The Maze Runner is when Thomas is in the elevator. When Thomas sees the flashing red light the music starts increasing and doesn't stop till the elevator crashes into the trapdoor. Another example is when Thomas is being chased by the Grievers in the maze. The mechanical sound effects given to the Grievers gives it more thrill. The screams and crashes that the Grievers make the audience go on the edge of their seats. Although, there are some significant differences between the movie to the book, the book has more detail and is easy to understand, but for some, the movie might be astonishing due to its terrific visuals, great acting and amazing use of sound and lighting. For these reasons I give this movie:
By – Raunak Koirala