By Sonni Simmons
Staff Writer

The movie theater experience isn’t cheap. You pay for the movie, the popcorn and the Swedish Fish with money and the experience with your time.

It seems as though most movies nowadays are pumped down an assembly line and adorned with big name actors to get some attention. “The Maze Runner” is a breath of fresh air, as it is everything a dystopian book-to-film adaptation should be and is anything but a processed film that fades from memory on the walk to your car.

Thomas, played by Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf, The Internship) finds himself elevated into the Glade, a forest inhabited by boys ranging in age from pre-teen to young adult. A massive mechanized stonewall surrounds the Glade with doors that open at sunrise and close at sunset. These doors reveal the maze, a complex network of corridors whose wall shift into different position every night. The Gladers notice that Thomas is unlike the others because of his unrelenting curiosity. It is clear to everyone, especially the first Glader introduced to the maze, Alby (Aml Ameen) and the suspicious Gally (Will Poulter) that his arrival is significant as things begin to change after a relatively predictable three years of coexistence. As Thomas attempts to make sense of his purpose and identify their imprisonment without any memory of the past, the movie takes the audience on a thrill ride as heart-pumping as a night in the maze.

One of the biggest achievements of this film is the acting. O’Brien was unquestionably convincing as the brave Thomas. Every relationship formed between O’Brien and his co-stars seemed genuine and made for a more poignant delivery of the film’s message. Aside from the theme of bravery and the responsibility that comes with it, “The Maze Runner” communicated the importance of compassion, faith and virtue. This message is neither conspicuous nor subtle as it’s punctuated with excitement and thrills. There was never a dull moment and the end had me marking the calendar for the next installment.

I didn’t read the book by James Bashner so I’m glad I got to see the movie free of expectations. It’s no secret that the book is always better than the movie, so I’ve resigned to keeping the two separate. “The Maze Runner” holds its own with impressive cinematography and a fast-paced storyline that felt as if it ended too soon. There are elements of mystery, action and beauty, leaving no base uncovered. The only area for improvement I noticed was the character development but since there are more chapters to this one, that may come later. I also wish “The Maze Runner” came before “Divergent” and “The Giver” because it seems as though the young adult, post-apocalyptic wave is losing momentum, as did the vampires and the zombies. Still, this one is a truly entertaining experience that is very much worth the watch.

4.5/5 Paws