When it comes to the recent rash of YA adaptations, The Maze Runner is an exceptionally frustrating experience. It doesnt just throw away its abundant potential to break away from the stagnant tropes that have calcified its genre, it ultimately reveals that it never had any hope or intention of doing otherwise. The story, which takes many of its cues from The Hunger Games (and similarly themed lets put a bunch of kids in an arena YA novels), focuses on a boy named Thomas who awakes to find himself in an endless maze without any memories of the outside world. One of the film's biggest disappointments is its handling of the character Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), the lone girl whos dropped into the mix about halfway through proceedings. Its safe to say that this character really got the short end of the stick with this adaptation. Whereas Teresa is smart, likable and capable of making a major difference in the book, in the film version, it feels like shes there just so the movie has a female in it. Her muted appearance, and the films insistence that she remain on the bench, is a surefire sign that the intentions of this film were to set up a franchise, and make sure that absolutely nothing in this first installment pays off in a satisfying way. And guess what? They succeeded.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
