Maze Runner: The Search for Women

Rating: 5/10 (6 March 2017)

An extended pack of newly pubescent boys wanders parent-less in a lush "Glade" (did Albert originally pen that name? It seems a little college freshman 101 English for a kid) and yet they display no obsession with the lack of women? Did the wiping of their memories also give them an interest in gardening to the extent that they are reluctant to try to solve the ridiculous cement maze that surrounds them? In real life, the lack of female companionship would have meant more boys would be volunteering as maze runners than hanging around building lean-to's as occurs in the film. Teresa's arrival - the first woman many had seen in 3 years - might have started an out and out civil war. Putting the sexual (or lack thereof) politics aside, the movie presents a fairly book-y device of a government in crisis using scarce resources to build a massive climate-controlled, cyborg filled intelligence test which takes 3 years to produce results. Couldn't they just have administered the Wechsler and saved themselves 2 years, 11 months, 3 weeks, 6 days and 23 hours and a billion dollars? Applying a fair amount of disbelief the story itself is a relatively straightforward one of group problem solving under adverse conditions. The twists at the end are dopey but do serve to set up a half billion dollar sequel. The characters and their characterization leave the audience whispering: "who's he again?" Only Will Poulter's "Gally" distinguishes himself as the voice of conservatism against the more charismatic, liberal Gladers. His views are compelling and one assumes had the grievers not mounted a mass attack, he probably would still be the Glades's democratically elected leader. How he shows up at the end of the film makes no sense within the story's own logic - remember the giant metal blades shut beyond the group? In short, a not un-entertaining also-ran among the "Hunger Games", "Divergent", dystopian future subgenre.