We’re so used to young adult fiction being aimed at young girls that what’s initially striking about this story is the way it has boys firmly in its sights. And not just because the lead is a teenage boy thrust into a world full of other teenage boys (though clearly that adds to the testosterone-heavy atmosphere): our story begins with Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) waking up in a lift with no memory of, well, anything. The lift delivers him and a bunch of supplies to a clearing bounded on all sides by huge walls; the boys who live there get him out, settle him down, and explain the score. They live in this glade in an all-boy community (no girls are sent), each doing their part – but for Maze Runners: their part involves running out into the maze that lies all around their glade, trying to find a way through it then coming back before the gates close automatically at dusk. If anyone is locked inside the maze after dark, mysterious but deadly creatures known as “grievers” kill them: no one’s ever survived a night outside the glade.
This is a lot of information to dump on a character, and it keeps on coming: unlike a lot of YA adaptations, this is much more concerned with piling on the plot than building metaphors for how it feels to be a teenager. It’s also a lot more action-orientated (and gory) than most YA adaptations, which means that for the first two-thirds or so this rockets along, no sooner solving one mystery than revealing another. Unfortunately it starts to fizzle out towards the end once it really starts to upend the world that’s been created, and the lack of interest in the supporting cast (who might as well be wearing hats that say BAD GUY, QUIRKY SIDEKICK and – when a girl finally does arrive – LOVE INTEREST) means that any big emotional moments not involving the maze tend to fall flat.
But this still gets more right than most films of its kind: for once what lies beyond the cliffhanger “to be continued” ending feels more like something to look forward to than dread.
By Anthony Morris