Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Latest
    • Thank You
    • 4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
    • 3999. The Pianist (2002)
    • 3998. Philadelphia (1993)
    • 3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
    • 3996. The Green Mile (1999)
    • 3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    • 3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Home
    • Blog
      • All Posts
      • Best Of The Year
        • Best Of 2015
        • Best Of 2016
        • Best Of 2017
        • Best Of 2018
        • Best Of 2019
        • Best Of 2020
        • Best Of 2021
        • Best Of 2022
      • The Decade In Review
      • Box Office Analysis
      • James Bond
      • Oscars
      • RANKED
      • Star Wars
      • The Big Questions
      • Top 10
      • World Cinema
    • Ratings
      • Top 250
      • Top 100 Foreign Films
      • Bottom 50
      • 0 – 1.9
      • 2 – 3.9
      • 4 – 5.9
      • 6 – 7.9
      • 8 – 10
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Anthology
      • Animation
      • Christmas
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Fantasy
      • Film-Noir
      • History
      • Horror
      • Kids’
      • Musical
      • Psychological
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Short
      • Silent
      • Sport
      • Superhero
      • Survival
      • Thriller
      • Western
    • Release Year
      • 2020s
      • 2010s
      • 2000s
      • 1990s
      • 1980s
      • 1970s
      • 1960s
      • 1950s
      • 1940s
      • 1930s
      • 1920s
    • Country
      • Afghanistan
      • Argentina
      • Australia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Brazil
      • Cambodia
      • Canada
      • Chile
      • China
      • Colombia
      • Costa Rica
      • Czechoslovakia
      • Czech Republic
      • Denmark
      • East Timor
      • Faroe Islands
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Georgia
      • Greece
      • Hong Kong
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Ireland
      • Israel
      • Italy
      • Japan
      • Latvia
      • Lebanon
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Mexico
      • New Zealand
      • Nigeria
      • North Korea
      • Norway
      • Paraguay
      • Peru
      • Philippines
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Russia
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • South Africa
      • Soviet Union
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uganda
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Uruguay
      • Vietnam
      • Zambia
    • About
    The Mad Movie Man
    You are at:Home»Review»788. The Maze Runner (2014)

    788. The Maze Runner (2014)

    0
    By The Mad Movie Man on December 19, 2014 110-119 mins, 2014, 4 - 5.9, Action, Dec 14, Movies Of 2014, Review, Sci-Fi, United States
    4.7 Tedious
    • Acting 4.7
    • Directing 4.7
    • Story 4.6
    • User Ratings (0 Votes) 0

    Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter

    Director: Wes Ball

    Running Time: 113 mins


    The Maze Runner is an American film about a boy who is sent to a secluded community of other boys after having his memory wiped. There, he must face the daily hardships and tensions with others in order to survive and find a way of escaping and finding out what he is really doing there.

    There’s no other way to put it, apart from the fact that this film was boring. It’s another young adult survival story (but I can’t badmouth it for that, because I likeĀ The Hunger Games, so that’s a bit hypocritical), it has very little in the way of an interesting or intelligent story, it’s quite an ugly film to watch, the performances are quite average, and there’s never any tension that brings any excitement to what should be a pulsating action film.

    I’ll start with what I found to be the most disappointing part of this film: the story. It’s got the formula to be an interesting, tense and action-packed young adult plot, however what it doesn’t do is provide any intelligent subtext beneath the action, it’s nowhere near emotional enough, seeing as it’s such a tough situation for the boys, and the characters barely develop throughout the story, apart from some extremely forced changes towards the end, and it was all of that that really bored me.

    And the problem is that, despite this film still being full of action throughout, none of that action is exciting or entertaining to watch. There are bursts of supposed tension and high stakes when the boys enter ‘the maze’, but you never really feel that, so, even in those parts of the film, where it doesn’t need to be so intelligent, it’s even more boring to watch.

    Also, I was really annoyed by how this film looks. If you remember the infamous shaky cam from the first Hunger Games movie, then you’ve got a picture of what this is like to watch. It’s not as blurry as that, but it’s still got annoying shaky cam, coupled with a very dull and boring set design; the place where the boys live just seems like the middle of some random woods, not a particularly harsh environment, whilst the maze is a really grey and unexciting landscape that adds to the lack of enjoyability when the boys venture there.

    Finally, the acting in this film was surprisingly mediocre. There are some great young actors here, including Will Poulter and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, but they, along with their co-stars, fail to make any of the characters at all interesting and outstanding. Of course, the poor writing doesn’t help, but all of the performances seem forced and dull, which pretty much fits with the overall extremely boring and unexciting atmosphere of the whole film, so that’s why it gets a 4.7.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    The Mad Movie Man, AKA Anthony Cullen, writes articles and reviews about movies and the world of cinema. From January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2022, he watched and reviewed a movie every day. This is the blog dedicated to the project: www.madmovieman.com

    Related Posts

    8.2

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    Follow Me Online!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Tumblr
    New Releases
    8.2
    December 25, 2022

    3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

    5.6
    December 10, 2022

    3969. Falling For Christmas (2022)

    6.9
    December 4, 2022

    3956. The People We Hate At The Wedding (2022)

    5.4
    December 3, 2022

    3954. Disenchanted (2022)

    7.4
    December 3, 2022

    3953. Meet Cute (2022)

    7.6
    November 23, 2022

    3934. Do Revenge (2022)

    7.0
    November 18, 2022

    3929. The Wonder (2022)

    6.7
    November 13, 2022

    3924. See How They Run (2022)

    Recommended Movies
    9.0
    Review
    July 13, 20180

    2215. Incredibles 2 (2018)

    8.0
    Review
    August 15, 20200

    3055. My Cousin Vinny (1992)

    8.2
    Review
    April 21, 20180

    2123. Training Day (2001)

    8.8
    Review
    March 19, 20130

    91. The Final Cut (2004)

    8.8
    Review
    March 31, 20130

    106. EuroTrip (2004)

    Popular Posts
    December 31, 2022

    Thank You

    8.2
    December 31, 2022

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8
    December 30, 2022

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2
    December 29, 2022

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    7.5
    December 28, 2022

    3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

    9.1
    December 27, 2022

    3996. The Green Mile (1999)

    7.6
    December 26, 2022

    3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.