Reviews

This is a hugely entertaining and intriguing dystopian SF thriller with overtones of the Lord of the Flies. The protagonist is Thomas, a 16-year boy who wakes up inside an underground service elevator which stops at the surface, a large grassy area (The Glade) enclosed by tall, stone walls (The Maze). Thomas has no memory of his identity and through his perspective we discover that the group of male youths who inhabit the Glade have formed a rudimentary society with each boy assuming a specialized task. The 'maze runners' are tasked with exploring and mapping the surrounding labyrinthine structure with the purpose of finding not only a way of escape but also a reason for their predicament. The movie has echoes of Vincenzo Natali's SF horror film The Cube with the Maze's moving walls and has a similar level of prolonged tension and resolution. I was genuinely gripped by the well-paced narrative and the film held my attention to the very end with glimpses of a post-apocalyptic world. An excellent addition to the genre.