James Dashner’s trilogy The Maze Runner is a book series that can be easily compared to The Hunger Games. While the story is entirely unique comparisons can certainly be made to themes seen in The Hunger Games. As a fan of the books, I was delighted to hear that they would be adapting The Maze Runner for the big screen.
The film stays true to the original story, with very little changes to the novel and director Wes Ball manages to capture Dashner’s vision brilliantly and bring the book to life. While it isn’t necessary to have read the trilogy prior to watching the film, it should be made clear that this film is only the first part of a three part story, so not all mysteries will be resolved by the film’s end, but it’s certainly worth going to see.
Casting for the film was pretty spot on overall, although I found Thomas Brodie-Sangster didn’t quite fit the role of Newt despite having no issue with his acting abilties. On the flipside, Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee and Dexter Darden were perfect for the roles of Thomas, Minho and Frypan, and Will Poulter brought a whole new dimension to the character of Gally. Patricia Clarkson was the most established cast member as Ava Paige and many Skins fans will recognise Kara Scodelario as Teresa.
The sequel, The Scorch Trials, is already in the works and due to be released about this time next year with Aidan Gillen of Game of Thrones, The Wire and Love/Hate fame joining the cast, as well as Giancarlo Esposito aka. Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring, which will be interesting to see. In the meantime, go see the first one which is currently out in cinemas.
Cian Taaffe