Solid but let's itself down too often

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2015)

There are a plethora of recent Hollywood trends sequels, remakes, reboots and behemoth CGI orgies. I feel as if though it's the rampant young adult novel adaptations are the ones that inherently work really well on a cinematic level.
There's a lot to admire in the Maze Runner that YA fiction really excels at. It helps capture the angst, identity crises, the sense of desperation and claustrophobia. This manifests itself to awaken the characters survivalist instincts. The premise is rock solid, the performances surprisingly come off well, the atmospheric direction is suitably dower, the initial world building is absolutely convincing. The establishment of the characters and their relationships towards one and other are what I thought worked on a meaningful level, it's something that isn't done nearly often enough. There are a few developments and moments where the film agonizingly let's itself down though and on more than a few occasions. It does this before it can properly cement itself as a solid piece of work.
I couldn't help but notice the outright dialogue over dubbing especially in relation to the character of Newt. Every line he delivered I could tell was so clearly recorded in a studio and not the natural environment of the movie. There are a couple of times especially towards the end where the movie has some twists and turns that do demean the compelling narrative the film had built for itself. It's a shame considering how much I had significantly enjoyed proceedings up until those one or two moments.
The good outweighs the disappointing ultimately. It's not world changing but it does make a fine companion piece to the Hunger Games which is a significantly more striking set of YA novels and adaptations.