Film Review: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner. Rated M (violence, science fiction themes and sustained threat). 113 minutes. Directed by Wes Ball. Screenplay by Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers and T S Nowlin. Based on the novel by James Dashner.

Verdict: The latest entry into the ‘teens against the rest of the world’ genre is an undeniable ripper.

If an award existed for the film that wastes no time getting on with it, The Maze Runner would win hands down. Within seconds of the cinema lights dimming, our protagonist Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) rides a goods elevator known as ‘the box’ up into the Glade – a verdant oasis at the heart of a super-structure known as ‘the maze’.

A dazed Thomas is greeted by a group of young men who have spent as long as three years learning to survive in the Glade, with selected ‘Runners’ entering the maze to try and find a way of getting through it. Those that are not brutally dispatched by robotic ‘Grievers’, live to tell the tale of escaping the horror that lies within the monumental, shape-shifting structure. Thomas is determined to triumph over the structure, and when the box delivers a young woman, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), the circumstances in which the ‘game’ is played are changed forever.

While it owes a debt to stories like William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, there is no doubt that Dashner’s novel, and this fast and efficient cinematic adaptation, are masterclasses in storytelling.

Ball makes an impressive feature-length debut, setting a cracking pace and keeping the focus firmly on what is at stake for his characters. His faith and commitment to an uncluttered style is well rewarded, with his ensemble delivering excellent performances. O’Brien (Teen Wolf’s Stiles), who is rarely offscreen, is simply outstanding as the young hero who refuses to play by the rules.

While there might be a sense of wearying familiarity with the ‘teens against the corrupt adult world’ genre, The Maze Runner, boasting Marc Fisichella’s superb production design, is a compelling and involving adventure that deserves to be experienced on the big screen.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Into the Storm

Into the Storm. Rated M (mature themes). 89 minutes. Directed by Steven Quale. Screenplay by John Swetnam.

Verdict: Sound and fury signifying nothing.

Anyone with fond memories of Jan de Bont’s ground-breaking Twister (1996), or any other film that focuses on the impacts of extreme weather events, will find Quale’s (Final Destination 5) offering almost instantly forgettable. While the sound and visual effects are great, the film lacks the necessary menace that these kinds of ‘Mother Nature as fiercely unforgiving adversary’ films need in order to sustain our interest in the scenes of relentless destruction and devastation.

In the all-American town of Silverton, everyone’s a film-maker. As the townsfolk brace for an epic series of tornado touch-downs, the hapless cast run around with a dazzling array of smartphones and video cameras filming anyone and anything that will stay still long enough.

Quale and Swetnam’s miscalculation is that unlike the hand-held camera found-footage masterpieces Blair Witch Project (1999) and Cloverfield (2008), the secret to the dramatic success of this particular style of film-making is as much about what we don’t see as what we do. Donnie (Max Deacon) and the love of his life Kaitlyn’s (Alycia Debnam Carey) near-death video messages from within a flooded paper-mill, for example, are nothing compared to the famous camper’s video diary sequence from Blair Witch Project.

The competent cast of bland lead characters is also frequently upstaged, hilariously, by two Jackass-inspired locals who are desperate for their five minutes of YouTube fame. The scene involving their family swimming pool and their furious mother is an absolute highlight, which is bizarre given how it is the least expensive sequence in what is obviously a massive effects budget extravaganza. Had Into the Storm managed to generate at least one more original idea, it might have been a good deal more interesting than it is.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.