3rd day leftovers.

Rating: 5/10 (30 January 2015)

It's edible, not terrible, and it might curb your hunger, but it's nothing to write home about.
So I'll write to you guys/gals. "Maze Runner" is exactly what you think it might be. Rehashed ideas, vague science-fiction, and little more than a catalyst for the following sequels. The good? THe production values are pretty good, and the acting better than average for this type of thing.
While it brings nothing new to the table - the pacing of the film is quite nice, and the film does leave the door open to possibly answer many of the questions that go unanswered in the original here - and there are A LOT of questions.
The biggest problem, the biggest question.. is the MAZE ITSELF!! Seriously, what's the purpose. It's weird because "getting through the maze" highlights the best parts of this film, but in terms of explaining why it's there - we get nada. Why not just put a huge wall around them?
Basically, the action and the acting are pretty good, but the story, the 'science-fiction' if you will, is vague/terrible. Of course I didn't read the books and maybe the books put more into the explanation(sure they did), but there's not enough here for me to really want to dive into this any further. I mean, these producers spent multi-millions for this two hours here with a movie called "Maze Runner", and after 2 Hours I have no clue why there is even a maze, and I get the feeling that they don't either.
I may actually give the sequels a try - in hopes that it really clears up a bunch of the reasoning behind the "maze".
But, I'm not going to hold my breath.
This is about even with the under-whelming, "No Escape", and it's also about even with the first "Hunger Games". That's to say that overall this film is very average. A full-step below "Catching Fire", and even a tad below my similarly rated "Snowpiercer".
Average action flick. Lord of the Flies meets an extremely vague science-fiction plot, meets "The Walking Dead". THe monsters are called "Grievers". That's actually a good way to describe many of the movie-goers here. For a free redbox entry I don't feel slighted, but if I'd spent 3hrs and 30 bucks on this at the theater I wouldn't be too happy.
54/100 I've seen a lot worse this year, but this is about the 35th best film out of 50 or so that I've seen from 2014.