Thoughts (Including major spoilers, but I don’t care because you should not watch this piece of shit):

• So there are trees everywhere. Why don’t they build a scaffold? (Instead of that stupid treehouse.)
• This is one of those movies where conflicts would disappear if the characters would only open their mouths…
• It’s like one of my fucking teenage fantasies.
• “The Changing”??? Jesus Christ
• There doesn’t appear to be water anywhere yet everyone is very clean. (Eventually, they revealed a pond, so never mind.)
• Also, where’s the map? (Oh, never mind on that too.)
• Is this based on a video game? It sure feels like it was. (No, just a shitty YA trilogy. Of course it’s a trilogy.)
• It appeals to the egocentrism of young adults: they can be the Jesus figure, the saviour, the uniquely gifted individual that nobody’s ever seen before (within their peer group)
• When they are being chased by the “Griebers,” everyone runs around with torches. Is this because they’re idiots or because they are teenagers? It is never made clear.
• Shouldn’t the Chinese dude be the leader? He’s the most competent.
• The protagonist has amazing recall for a guy who just got there.
• “World Catastrophe Kill Zone Department”??? You have to be fucking kidding me. How is this author allowed to write? I hope he sleeps at night. (I bet he sleeps on a pile of money…)
• The ending is the worst kind of reveal, where the audience had absolutely no way of guessing what was coming – no inkling at all.
• They’re in the fucking desert?!?!?! You have to be kidding me. Didn’t it rain earlier?
• And then, after the bullshit reveal, there is a bullshit twist. Fuck this movie.
• But… SEQUEL!!!

3/10

PS: Yes, I was in an uncharitable mood. 3/10 might be slightly cruel. But 4/10 feels generous.

• Directed by Wes Ball
• Produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Lee Stollman
• Screenplay by Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers, T.S. Nowlin, Based on The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Starring
  • Dylan O’Brien as Thomas, the last male to enter the Glade
  • Kaya Scodelario as Teresa, the first and only female Glader
  • Aml Ameen as Alby, the first male to enter the Glade and the leader of the Gladers
  • Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt, second-in-command of the Gladers
  • Ki Hong Lee as Minho, the head runner
  • Will Poulter as Gally
  • Patricia Clarkson as Ava Paige, the Head of W.C.K.D.
  • Blake Cooper as Chuck, a very young Glader
  • Dexter Darden as Frypan, a cook
  • Jacob Latimore as Jeff
  • Chris Sheffield as Ben, a runner
  • Joe Adler as Zart
  • Randall D. Cunningham as Clint
  • Alexander Flores as Winston
  • Don McManus as Masked Man, an armed soldier who rescues the Gladers
• Music by John Paesano
• Cinematography by Enrique Chediak
• Edited by Dan Zimmerman
• Production companies: Gotham Group, Temple Hill Entertainment, TSG Entertainment
• Distributed by 20th Century Fox
• Release date: September 19, 2014
  
• Running time: 113 minutes
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Budget: $34 million
• Box office: $348.3 million