Solid dystopian YA story which reminded me of 'Lord of the Flies' crossed with 'Cube'

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2017)

As this film opens our protagonist wakes in a large lift that takes him to a green area surrounded by high walls. He has no memory of what happened before, initially he doesn't even know his name although he later recalls that it is Thomas. There are other people there already; all teenage boys and none have any memory of what happened before they got there or knowledge of why they have been put there. Thomas is told that once a month a new person arrives along with vital supplies. He also learns that the area they live in is known as The Glade and the wall contain a giant maze; giant doors into the maze are open during the day and closed at night runners go into the maze during the day hoping to find a way out and if any are trapped in the maze when the doors close they will never be seen again. Apparently creatures known as Grievers come out at night although nobody has seen one and lived to tell the tale. That is until Thomas enters the maze to help two other boys and is caught inside. Not only do they manage to survive the night Thomas actually manages to kill a Griever. Things soon start to change; Thomas and another boy discover that the Grievers are man-made, they think they have found a way out and then the elevator delivers a new person; the first girl to be sent to the glade. Some people think that Thomas will be the one to get them out of the maze but one boy, Gally, is convinced that he has brought danger to them and insists that he is punished for what he has done. Sides are taken and a group make a bid for freedom.
When I started watching this I wasn't expecting too much perhaps because of that I found myself pleasantly surprised. The idea of having a group of boys trapped in an enclosed location immediately made me think of 'Lord of the Flies' although the society depicted here isn't quite so fragile even if Gally's actions appear to push it that way. The fact that the maze changed each night and contained dangers reminded me of the Sci-fi film 'Cube'; although with this films young adult demographic it is far less violent. That doesn't mean there is no sense of real danger; it gets pretty intense at times and has moments when it is genuinely scary. A fair number of characters die including some one would expect to survive. The film has a good look with the maze having a real feel to it. The cast, which featured nobody I recognised in major roles, did a solid job making the viewer believe in the characters and their situation. There are some weaknesses, mostly when we are finally told why the boys were selected and why the maze was created in the first place, also the ending felt entirely like a set up for the next film in the series which of course it was. Overall though I found this to be a solid story and will keep an eye open for the sequel.