They Could Have Escaped Through The Plot Holes

Rating: 6/10 (28 April 2015)

A teenage boy called Thomas finds himself coming to in a lift . The lift ascends in the open air where he is met by a group of boys his own age and they tell him he is in "The Glade" a fertile strip of land surrounded by a walled maze from which escape is impossible
I came in to THE MAZE RUNNER knowing absolutely nothing about it . Within a very short period of time I didn't have to do any research because I felt this was a film being marketed for a similar demographic to that of TWILIGHT and THE HUNGER GAMES . Just to confirm my suspicions I logged in to this page and yes my spidey senses had been right all along and this was indeed the opening chapter of a series of books aimed at teenagers and like so many films aimed at teenagers it's not enough to condense several volumes of an ongoing story in to one film but to film every separate book as a film in itself . No doubt this means the narrative becomes drawn out with large segments being utterly disposable . Not only that but layer of mystery will give way to another layer of mystery and so in order to get any answers you have to watch each and every film in chronological order to understand what is happening and way it is happening . In other words the studio execs are saying "Let's fleece the audience" while sipping champagne and I'm proud to report not a single penny of my income was spent on champagne breakfasts at 20th Century Fox Studios . All I wasted was two hours of my life watching a movie that I was certain to hate
!!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!!!
To be honest I actually found myself enjoying THE MAZE RUNNER in parts , especially the vaguely scary bits and unlike the rather similar THE HUNGER GAMES there are moments that are cruel and nasty . However there's a massive amount wrong with it on a logical level . The Glade itself is supposedly capable of supporting life within its borders for as many as three dozen inhabitants until the camera cuts to a long shot and the continuity between this and a place containing large fields and woodlands seems absent . Other lapses in continuity and logic involve the fact that everyone has carefully manicured hair and is clean shaven , so have the Gladers been receiving shampoo , scissors and razors from the outside world ? There's even a chubby kid so I'm guessing he's been rewarded with lots of pies and chocolate cakes . Either that or he's been included because an audience are supposed to feel sorry for fat kids if not totally empathise with because the rest of the cast are too much like pretty boy band members to elicit any empathy . There's also other plot holes such as someone managing to build a miniature model of the maze then telling Thomas that the maze constantly changes so why build a model when it won't match the constantly changing real maze ? Things like this indicate the audience aren't supposed to think too much about what is happening and just go along with what is happening
As I did expect the film ends on a cliff hanger and yet another plot turn where things aren't what they seem . I won't rush out to the cinema to buy a ticket when the second one opens but will watch it for free when I get the chance . I've no idea how the story develops but I do hope the logic of the scenario isn't ignored and my abiding memory of this film is if the world has been destroyed in a catastrophe then how come the scientific/governmental community are able to terraform and maintain a fertile place like The Glade when the rest of the world seems ruined beyond all repair ?