Practically 3 locations

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2014)

I really liked this movie! I did think that it was made out of practically nothing, but it was still going along with good rhythm and slowly releasing small details that would spin it off completely and add another layer of drama and tragedy to the story.
It is a very simple topic though, well told story, which makes this simple topic appealing. The same storytelling that kept everyone paying attention at all times, not to miss a vital detail that might change their path to the whole story.
The movie started right with confusion and practically ended like it, which is an element that I don't quite appreciate when I go watch a movie, because I find it rather mortifying. However, since it started dumping a young adult "Thomas" in the middle of nowhere or in the middle of a valley that is surrounded by fortress, with guys that have been living there for THREE years.
Like I said I really liked this movie, but it doesn't mean that I agree with every piece of information that was part of the story. Since I didn't read the book I don't think is right to focus on the story's elements and smash them, but I will just disagree with the obvious ones.
The story looked to me a little old, in terms watching it after being exposed to "The Hunger Games", "Divergent", "Surrogate", "Alien" and even "Peter Pan" for a little bit; as well as being exposed to any story that contains characters with similar realities, but don't cross my mind right now. Of course they had to make it unique its own technicalities.
The cinematography was on point, with Wess Ball leading, as the director. Very creative and fresh vision, having such a great outcome with this talented, fairly new director, another evidence that great directors don't need to be all up in Hollywood flicks to prove who they are. Every actor did a great job, I particularly enjoy watching Dylan O'Brien on the big screen, since the time when I watched "The First Time", he was so telegenic and decent looking. However, I don't love his look in this movie, he looks better with a little more weight on.
The special effects in the movie were very realistic, it is clear that the production team put a great effort into plotting this out with vast detail; and for only showing a couple of locations, they kept it interesting.
The action sequences were pretty suspenseful, with great music by the hand of John Paesano and following a good pace.
However I didn't understand why these people were there for 3 years, we're talking about people that were born to tests and were apparently pretty smart, but couldn't shake the fact that whatever they were doing was not working. Let's say they started sending the runners out after the first year; that still makes it 730 days of trying. I also didn't understand why the characters didn't catch on to the fact that there was a helicopter waiting for them outside the maze, I think it would've been more realistic if one of them would've posed the question about how possible it was that the helicopter could've picked them up at the center of the maze in the first place.
There was no need for the film to show that the story continues and mortify us one more time showing that everything was a test and everyone was ready to get to the next level.
Again my issues with this movie focused on the story elements and making some sense of what was showed and what wasn't. I still recommend "The Maze Runner" and give it 7 IMDb stars.
© 2013 Alexandra Bello