The Maze Runner Movie Review
A Reader's Response
This is my Reader’s Response to watching the Maze Runner movie in which I will be comparing the movie to the book and talking about how it works as an adaptation. Warning: SPOILERS for both the book and the
movie.
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Ever
since I first saw the trailer for the Maze Runner I knew that this was a movie
I wanted to see. I’d heard about the books (I even owned the first one). After
a failed first attempt I wasn’t sure if I would read it, but I knew I should if
I was going to see the movie. The book was good but the movie, in my opinion,
was better while still staying true to the book.
The
movie had a more primitive setting to it than the book which gave it a more
believable feel. The Glade always seemed a little too put together for me so I’m
glad they went this route. The Gladers built all of their own buildings and
they would party at night with bonfires, wrestling, and homemade alcohol (or
whatever it was). The community between the boys was enjoyable to watch and I
was a lot less irate at the characters than when I read the book because they
were less… well, perhaps angry isn’t exactly the word but it’s close enough.
They didn’t act like shanks the entire time which I was glad of because
sometimes they would really annoy me. I even liked Gally more and I sympathized
with him a lot. The cast was amazing and I didn’t feel like any of them were
out of place (and the guy who played Newt was totally cute).
The
action was great and the Grievers were terrifying and made people want to jump
out of their skin (I enjoyed watching Christina watch this movie.lol) when they
popped around the corner. The Maze was large and intimidating, almost more so
than the Grievers at times, and of course there was a lot of running, but a
majority of it was running from danger and not to map the place.
Like
any adaptation there will be difference and my mind was catching them all as I
watched, but most were understandable and didn’t affect my ability to enjoy
this movie. However, there were a couple change that I thought were a little
too large for me to brush off completely. First off, telepathy and mind control
made no appearance in this movie, at least I didn’t notice any. That was such a
big part of the books and Thomas and Teresa’s characters that, while I
understand it may have overcomplicated the movie, I was pretty shocked when
they left it out. If you haven’t read the book it wouldn’t matter, the movie
didn’t suffer from the lack of it, but to a reader that was something I had a
hard time overlooking.
The
second big change I notice was that the Gladers didn’t have the cure on hand
for when they got stung by the Grievers. They mentioned the “changing” but they
kind of implied that the person would die from it. It was only when Teresa came
with two vials of the cure in her pocket that they found out what happened to
the persons mind during the “changing.” As an adaptation, I thought this was
maybe too big of a change because it affected the reasons behind certain
characters actions but again, if you were just a viewer it probably wasn’t that
big of a deal.
I thought it was a great movie and can’t
wait to see it again. Score another point for YA book adaptations!
-Sarah
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