7.5/10

Rating: 7/10 (8 October 2014)

One of the better surprises of this wonderful year. I went in this movie knowing absolutely nothing, as usual, and came out totally amazed at how much it actually managed to deliver. My expectations weren't the best from the buzz I had heard and this probably contributed to a very good time at the theater.
There were lots and lots of elements in the movie that I was surprised to see executed in such a caring and detailed way. Firstly, visually the movie is pretty exciting. I'm not talking about Seamus-McGarvey-standard cinematography, even though the film actually is shot really well, but about set-pieces and world building. They all had an incredible coherence to them and served the movie perfectly. The whole maze was just amazing to look at. The visual impact of the movie also contributed to some really relentless tension scenes that had me genuinely on the edge of my seat. This movie truly had some stunning suspense in it and delivered it in every single scene it wanted to. The mystery story was also very involving and had me continuously trying to guess what was going on, plus it managed not to fall in some genre clichés and pull off a couple of interesting twists.
Yet, as much as it managed to stay away from some major clichés it fell into others and by doing this it contributed to the emotional detachment the movie has. Indeed it is thrilling for the majority, but on a character involvement level it didn't really do anything special. The major negative I have with the movie has to do with the resolution of the whole mystery, even though there is a final twist I enjoyed the whole resolution really seemed weak to me. There are also some minor incoherences and shortcuts both in story development and how characters interact and talk, but they weren't too bothering. I could also have done with some better acting from the whole cast, but all in all nobody stuck out as a weak link.
To sum it up I would definitely recommend this movie as theater viewing, It was really a great time and I am more than curious to see how the story goes on.