Good job. You just killed yourself.
✯✯
Okay, let's get the obvious out of the way: I didn't direct this movie. Shocking, isn't it? You have no idea how annoying it gets to tell people in the cinematic community that I didn't direct this movie, I was so annoyed that at one point I just said "Yes" sarcastically every time. Now that I've seen this film, I want to try to distance myself from the director as much as possible. Thinking of a name change soon, any ideas?
Anyway, now that I've finally seen the film that this impostor has directed, it really is just a bland and uninspired mix of Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games. The protagonist is boring and unlikable, and he probably only "worked" in this movie if you're a teenage girl, because that's clearly the target audience in this sausagefest. Not that it's a bad thing, but film adaptations of these types of novels all seem to be the same nowadays. I saw almost no marketing for The Maze Runner, and I had to examine a poster even to notice that the director had the same name as I did, which was kind of trippy for me.
Was there really a reason for some of the British actors to have American accents and some to retain their natural dialect? Will Poulter can play a convincing antagonist, but his accent in The Maze Runner seemed strange and added nothing to his already flat character. His strong physique and masculine behavior makes him out to be a strong villain-type of actor, which is why I have hope for him being cast as Pennywise in the new It adaptation.
The whole premise of the film just seems completely pointless, and the payoff is really, really lame. **SPOILERS SO SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVE SOME MASOCHISTIC DESIRE TO WATCH THIS AND HAVEN'T SEEN IT** Why did all the adults decide to put these kids in a maze in the first place? There was literally no reason for them to be placed in captivity. The adults literally gain nothing and are no closer to finding a cure for this disease. They could've just as easily kept them in a research facility without wiping their memories and they could've been just as well off. And why are they suddenly pushed to fend for themselves in the giant desert landscape? Way to prepare for the future of the human race, adults. That's really smart of you.
The main gist of these teenybopper films/novels seem to focus around one central issue: "Adolescents are awesome and adults are evil." President Snow forces children to kill each other in an arena. The adults keep these kids in a giant maze that opens once a day. The wizard kids in Harry Potter save the day all the time (I've never seen Harry Potter. NO I DON'T WANT TO, SHUT UP). You'd think that YA writers would be able to find a better central focal point for their books by now.
There's nothing really special in particular about The Maze Runner, in fact, it was really bland and uninspired. I could literally feel The Hunger Games coming off of the screen as I watched the film, it's that badly copying it. The dialogue is subpar, and the acting is just all over the place. I honestly don't know if this could have been any better, and I might still have a little hope for the sequel (if I had any to begin with). The poster is pretty much the most exciting thing about this movie. All of the action sequences with the CGI creatures take place at night, both cleverly and obviously masking the terrible animation style that the film used. It's pretty much the standard that I've come to expect out of these teenage sci-fi films nowadays. The stories are all the same, and the actors are just beginning to get their chops wet, so to speak. Not that I'm asking for older actors to be cast in these films, but that I'd rather just see less of these and more generally fun releases like a Marvel film or a good art house film once in a while. For a guy with my name, I thought he would've done at least a little better. If the only thing that drew me into watching this was the name of the director, what does that tell you about the film? Or my tastes? We couldn't be farther apart.