A Very Enjoyable Action Sci-Fi Fantasy

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2015)

I never really paid much attention until I saw the trailers for it, but from what I saw in them, The Maze Runner lived up to all expectations and it was a really enjoyable Sci-Fi Fantasy for me. I never knew that this was based on a book either and if this lives up to the usual routine of books typically being better than their movie adaptations then it must be a cracker of a read.
It may not be the most original idea for a story i.e. the human "rats in a maze" experiment, but at least it's a film that concentrates on putting together a good plot rather than just being self-reliant on visual & special effects. Sometimes it just seems that too many movies these days rely heavily on visual & special effects to dazzle the audience while forgetting about the story (Pacific Rim, for example). Thankfully that's not the case here. Don't get me wrong...the visuals are amazing and they definitely help bring the film to life. It's just that the effects are more of a very nicely added bonus to a well written plot.
With these elements combined, the film delivers a very nice amount of action, tension & suspense....the majority of which come from within the maze obviously. The maze itself is VERY imposing, and when you throw in the Grievers as well (sort of guardians of the maze), it's a place where you definitely wouldn't want to be.
Another area that wasn't ignored was the choices for the individual members of the cast, who all played their parts really well, and, thankfully, it wasn't a stereotypical cast of all young buff, good looking guys who couldn't act to save themselves (such as Twilight). They were all "normal" looking actors and they all played their parts with a decent amount of believability.
The Maze Runner is not an absolute classic by any means, but it is well filmed, well acted, well told, and is definitely a very enjoyable film.