• Home
  • About
  • Gloria’s Website
  • Novels
  • Mind Sieve
  • Movie Reviews
  • Picture Kaleidoscope
  • Virtual Pictures

Gloria Oliver

~ Unveiling the Fantastic

Gloria Oliver

Tag Archives: Aml Ameen

Movie Review – The Maze Runner

19 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by Gloria Oliver in Movie Reviews, Movies

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Aml Ameen, Author, Blake Cooper, Dylan O'Brien, Gloria Oliver, Kaya Scodelario, Ki Hong Lee, movie reviews, SF Movies, The Maze Runner, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Unveiling the Fantastic, ya books to movies

The Maze Runner

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, Dexter Darden, Chris Sheffield, Patricia Clarkson, and more.

Directed by: Wes Ball Screenplay by: Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers, and T.S. Nowlin Based on the Novel by: James Dashner. Cinematography by: Enrique Chediak Music by: John Paesano

Premise: A young man’s first recollections are waking on a rising elevator and being greeted by a bunch of eager boys. He doesn’t remember who he is, but the rest tell him not to worry – they don’t remember who they are either. Their home is the Glade. And surrounding it are giant walls with only one way out. The way leading to the Maze. And in three years, they’ve yet to find a way out of it. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1)  Acting – Total Thumbs Up: Dylan O’Brien does a fantastic job as the terrified and later curious newcomer to the Glade. Aml Ameen had great presence as the Glade’s leader Alby. Ki Hong Lee was a lot of fun as well in his role as Minho. Kaya Scodelario brought a nice bit of zest to the all male Glade. Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Blake Cooper added a lot of heart with their great performances. And kudos to Will Poulter, who played Gally, a bad guy who really wasn’t a bad guy, just protecting the tribe in his own way. Nice change from the typical bully. Well done!

2) Special Effects – Total Thumbs Up: Sound is the first effect used, sound and darkness – and it was a great intro into the film, grabbing the audience immediately and shooting directly into the story without making us wait.

The maze itself is super cool. From the giant walls, to the closing, creaking giant doors, to the moving walls. As if that weren’t enough, there’s the huge cyborg spiders who hunt the hallways of the maze at night – super creepy.

Loved, loved, loved the scan and alarm sequence and the consequences thereof. Especially the giant panels breaking the concrete and rising upwards. Major thumbs up guys!

3) Plot/Story – Total Thumbs Up: I knew nothing about the movie before seeing it, aside from what I’d seen on previews, so can’t say how faithful it is to the books. But I totally loved the way they went about it.

The movie begins immediately – grinding sounds amidst darkness, then a sliver of light as you realize there’s a boy puking in a mesh elevator as it rise upwards. It instantly captures the audience’s’ attention. And as Thomas comes to learn of his situation, we, too, get to learn about the Glade and those living there.

I personally thought the plot had a good pace, giving us enough info to get us involved, and enough things happenings to keep it moving and highly interesting. The use of Thomas’s weird dreams to show hints of things not yet remembered did much to intrigue.

Lots of ingenuity and plenty of surprises. Just when you think it’s done, they throw out one more punch. And the punch after that one is even more unexpected. And this left the audience with even more questions and the promise of future trouble.  I think they did themselves a disservice by not adding a teaser to the credits! (Yes, “The Scorch Trials” (Book 2) is already in production. Sweet!)

4) Stunts – Total Thumbs Up: Maze running, climbing, leaping, squeezing through quickly tightening spaces – lots of physical stuff. Add in crazed cyborg spiders and you get frenzied running, bodies flying through the air, and combat. Oh yeah!

5) Locations/Cinematography: The place chosen as to represent the walled in glade was perfect. The cinematography did a great job in making the walls of the maze seem immense and the size of the entire thing daunting. The whole shifting view for the sequence for the section 7 alarm was almost mind blowing.

And the final view of the the entirety of the maze at the end – priceless!

Conclusion: “The Maze Runner” is totally worth going to see. It has cool effects, a mystery premise, and unexpected surprises. Looking forward to the next one!

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
Gloria Oliver

   

Gloria's Links

  • Gloria Oliver's Author Pages
  • Gloria's Newsletter Signup Form
  • Hard Shell Word Factory
  • Yard Dog Press
  • Zumaya Publications

Novels

Inner Demons

(2014) Urban Fantasy

It took everything from her, except revenge!

Sample Chapters

ISBN: 978-1594263279

From Mundania Press


The Price of Mercy

(2011) Young Adult - Fantasy

Which is worse...the monster without or within?

Sample Chapters

,

ISBN: 978-1934841983

From Zumaya Publications


Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles

(2007) Young Adult - Fantasy

"Harry Potter meets Dragon Riders of Pern"

Sample Chapters

ISBN: 978-0759944664

From Hard Shell Word Factory


Willing Sacrifice

(2008) Young Adult - Fantasy

"To save the world she must DIE! Or must she?"

Sample Chapters

ISBN: 978-1934135273

From Zumaya Publications


In the Service of Samurai

(2002/2011) Adult/YA - Japanese Fantasy Adventure

"The Last Samurai meets Pirates of the Caribbean"

Sample Chapters

ISBN: 978-1612710532

From Zumaya Publications


Vassal of El

(2004) Adult/YA - Fantasy Mystery

"He tried to forget his past, but his past would not forget him"

Sample Chapters

ISBN: 978-1934135990

From Zumaya Publications

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 20 other followers

Gloria’s Twitter Feed

  • RT @author2authors: I don't think I've ever loved #sciencefiction as much as I have reading this book @GloriaOliver available at Amazon --… 1 week ago
  • RT @tweetheart4711: There were a number of amazing female #anime fans who lived and worked in Japan in the 90s, many American with military… 1 week ago
  • Having #SUPERNATURAL withdrawal? Check out the sample chapters for Inner Demons! :P gloriaoliver.com/demons/… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
  • It’s snowing! #Texas https://t.co/Q23IJke2b5 2 weeks ago
  • Don't forget to enter the Sword & Sorcery Giveaway! Runs 1/4 to 1/13/21. Your TBR pile can never be too deep. :P He… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 weeks ago

Categories

Archives

  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011

Blog Awards


Kreativ Blogger Award

Gloria Oliver on Facebook

Gloria Oliver on Facebook

Blog Stats

  • 15,183 visits

Blog at WordPress.com.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: