The Maze Runner

Released Year: 2014

Directed by Wes Ball

Casted by:

Dylan O'Brien as Thomas

Ki Hong Lee as Minho

Kaya Scodelario as Teresa

Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt

Will Poulter as Gally

Aml Ameen as Alby

Blake Cooper as Chuck

 Story:

Thomas, a 16 year old boy, wakes up inside an underground service elevator with no memory of his identity. A group of male youths greet him in a large grassy area called the Glade that is enclosed by tall, stone walls. Every month, a new boy and supplies arrive in the elevator. The boys, called Gladers, have formed a rudimentary society with each assuming specialized tasks. Alby, their leader and the first to arrive in the Glade, says every boy eventually recalls his name, but none remember their past. The boy learns that a vast Maze surrounding the Glade may provide the only way out. During the day, designated Runners search the Maze for an escape route, returning before nightfall when the entrance closes. No one has ever survived a night inside the Maze.

While in a competition with Gally, the boy suddenly remembers his name is Thomas. Later, Thomas is attacked by Ben, a Runner delirious from being stung by a Griever – deadly techno-organic creatures that roam the Maze at night. Ben is forced into the Maze and left to die as there is no cure for what the Griever infected him with. Minho, the lead Runner, and Alby later retrace Ben's steps inside the Maze. Minho reappears at dusk dragging Alby, who was stung, but they are unable to reach the closing entrance in time. Thomas spontaneously runs into the Maze to help but all three are trapped. During the night in the Maze, Thomas and Minho tie Alby up high on the Maze wall to hide him from the Grievers, but Minho abandons Thomas when a Griever emerges from the center of the Maze. Thomas slides under the Maze wall, managing to hide from the Griever. Later, Thomas finds Minho and his actions during the night keeps them alive, and he kills a Griever by tricking it into a narrow, closing passageway thus causing it to be crushed, making him the first to ever survive the night and kill a Griever. To the other boys' astonishment, they return the next morning.

Gally claims Thomas has jeopardized the fragile peace between the Gladers and the Grievers and wants him punished, but Newt, the group's second-in-command, instead designates Thomas a Runner. Thomas, Minho and several volunteers enter the Maze. They locate the Griever corpse and remove a beeping mechanical device from inside it. The device is numbered to correspond to a certain section within the Maze. The next morning, the first-ever girl arrives in the elevator. She apparently recognizes Thomas though he cannot remember her. A note says she is the last one being sent. Minho shows Thomas a scale model of the Maze he has built, based on his three years of exploration. The Maze's numbered sections open and close in a regular sequence that might be a code. With the mechanical device, they may be able to find an escape route.

The girl, Teresa, has two syringes filled with an unknown substance. One is used on Alby, and he gradually recovers from the Griever sting and begins regaining his memories. Minho and Thomas venture back into the Maze and discover a possible exit but are nearly trapped, barely making it back to the Glade.

That night, the Maze entrance does not close while others open, letting Grievers pour in. A massacre ensues as the Gladers, practically defenseless against the Grievers, struggle to fight back or hide. Alby saves Chuck from a Griever, but is killed moments later, telling Thomas to "Get them out". Gally assaults Thomas after the chaos, blaming him for the Glade's destruction. Thomas, who has had disconnected memory flashes since arriving, stabs himself with a severed Griever stinger in an attempt to revive his memory. The others inject him with the last anti-venom. Unconscious, he recalls that he and Teresa worked for the organization that created the Maze; the boys unknowingly have been in an experiment. Thomas awakens and shares this information with Newt, Minho, Chuck, and Teresa.

Meanwhile, Gally has taken command and intends to sacrifice Thomas and Teresa to the Grievers to restore the peace. Most of the Gladers are swayed to free Thomas and Theresa and attempt escaping the Maze, but Gally and a few others refuse to leave. Fighting Grievers as they go, the survivors escape the Maze and eventually enter a laboratory strewn with dead scientists and technicians. A woman in a video recording explains that the planet has been devastated by increasing solar flares, followed by a pandemic of a deadly, incurable virus called the Flare that affects the brain of the afflicted. We learn that a group of younger individuals appeared to be immune to the virus. The Gladers learn that they were part of an experiment studying the way their brains worked as a resistance to the virus. At the end, the woman in the video shoots herself as the lab is being attacked by men with military-style weapons but dressed more like mercenaries. Gally suddenly appears armed with a gun he found. Delirious from a Griever sting, he insists they must stay in the Maze, then aims at Thomas intending to kill him out of revenge. Minho kills Gally with a spear, but not before Chuck is fatally shot protecting Thomas, who is devastated by his friend's death. Masked armed men rushed in and take the group to a helicopter. As they fly over the Maze, it is revealed to be placed in a vast desert wasteland. Eventually, the helicopter approaches a ruined city. The scene ends with the supposedly-dead scientists meeting in a room. The leader (woman in the video) notes that the experiment has been a success; the survivors are now entering Phase Two.

 L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

I have wanted to watch this movie in the cinema but i don't know why i just not in the mood to watch any movie in the cinema previously. Well, let's get back to the movie, the storyline is great... but i expected a bit more in this. Maybe it will get better in the next movie, we will see. By the way, Ki Hong Lee is damn hot, i've seen him in the WangFu Production before, and he is so yummy :)