Thomas awakens in a rusty elevator with no memory of who he is, only to learn he’s been delivered to the middle of an intricate maze, along with a slew of other boys, who have been trying to find their way out of the ever-changing labyrinth — all while establishing a functioning society in what they call The Glade.
It’s entirely possible that my expectations of The Maze Runner were set quite low due to the fact that the film’s synopsis has a sort of Hunger Games feel to it, and the film market is currently saturated in young adult novel adaptations, and that my enthusiasm after seeing the trailer was just the result of a low bar that the film needed to clear. But I’m not ashamed to say that this movie, which I had no prior knowledge of (I had never even heard of the book before), has totally hooked me with this preview. It’s like The Hunger Games meets Cube! Too cool! And the cast of young actors looks solid as well. Most of them I haven’t seen before, but I quite like Thomas Brodie-Sangster from his work as Jojen in Game of Thrones, and I’ve been a fan of Will Poulter ever since Son of Rambow. Now, I recognize that any answers the film offers will probably be Lost-caliber disappointment, as the mysteries presented here are far more interesting than any grand reveal the movie could pull off, but I don’t care. Maybe the big reveal will be that the maze is in the middle of…an even bigger maze! The Maze Runner looks like a hell of a lot of fun, and smarter than your average YA adaptation. Here’s hoping I’m not way off the mark on this one!
The Maze Runner comes out September 19, 2014.