The Maze Runner

     A teenage boy wakes up in cage with boxes, and junk, and even a hog. A cage that is being hurled upward, and the boy doesn't know what's going on. The cage finally stops its upward journey to reveal bright light, and several faces looking down. The boy has no memories and finds himself in a large grassy area, The Glade, surrounded by huge walls and dozens  of other boys his age. He learns from a kind boy, Alby, that every boy there does his part, growing food and building shelter. He is told never to go beyond the walls and that if one goes out at night he will be killed by the unknown Grievers. He learns that no one there has any memories, and that every month the cage comes up with supplies and another boy. He is told that the only memory that he will recover is his name, like everybody else. And he finally does: Thomas. But Thomas, he isn't quite like the other boys. He is curious.

     I hadn't really heard much about The Maze Runner. Only three things: it existed, it was based on a novel, and one of my friends liked it. A friend with whom we don't always agree on our movie tastes. Never the less, I saw it had no sexual content according to Plugged In reviews, I was sick, and my sister was near a red box, so I decided to give it a shot.
     I was quite surprised, I didn't just like it, I loved it! The story was great, and  developed perfectly. The acting was good, especially for a cast of all kids. The cinematography was quite good, as well as the special effects. It was certainly visually pleasing. The Maze Runner left me pretty excited for the sequel that comes out this year.
     I don't want to say too much about it, so as not to spoil it, but I think its definitely  worth a watch.  The only concerns I have for it, is there was a decent amount of cussing: several uses of the s word and a few other profanities, including the b words h*** and d***. Not shrug-able but certainly not too terrible, especially compared to many other movies. Also, the movie is fairly violent several deaths and some scary creatures, but nothing that anyone but young children couldn't handle.
     So give it a try and tell us what YOU thought of the movie. Did you agree with my review? Go ahead and correct, confirm, agree and disagree with me in the comments below!

-John Watson