You remember Kaya Scodelario? She played Effy Stonem in the UK E4 network, and pretty damn knockout. A schoolgirl when it opens, a stockbroker when it ends, she was the thinking pervs hottie for all those years even thought it was the guy playing her brother, Nicholas Hoult, who broke through. Still Kaya had that look about her, you see it from time to time, of someone who you just want to know, or at least watch. Someone who is just too damn cool.
Kaya arrives late to the latest teen dystopia, “The Maze Runner”, to late to matter very much, but still a pleasure to watch. So is “The Maze Runner” -late but a pleasure to watch. I could paraphrase this, but not just cut and paste the storyline off Rotten tomatoes? “When Thomas wakes up trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys, he has no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organization known as W.C.K.D. Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape. Based upon the best-selling novel by James Dashner.”
Basically, it is yet another in a long line of movies trying to fill the “Twilight” void, kiddie sci-fi for YAs who deserve better. And it isnt bad, though remarkably unconvincing. The acting is good, and the storyline has its moments, but it boils down to teen exploitation with quite a few deaths and a deeply unsatisfying ending, to set up Part Two. with “Divergent” and “The Giver” failing to fill the vacuum, indeed, once The Hunger game is done with this could be a problem, it won’t be “The Maze Runner”, though the basic idea of actually killing off the boys before the end of the movie hits me as a goodie.
Look at it this way, the acting is pretty good, the story kinetic enough, and Dylan O’Brien perfects bland yet deep.Plus at least there is 22 year old Kaya, oh yeah and PAUL MCCARTNEY, Thomas Sangster, who you may remember from “Love, Actually” as well as “Nowhere Boy”.
Grade: B
