Can You Find Your Way Out?

                                                    Can You Find Your Way Out?

            With the recent obsession with dystopian society movies, more and more keep on slamming the box office. And that’s exactly what 20^th Century Fox has done with The Maze Runner. Right off the bat, the recently released trailer sets the intensity with three loud bangs, some mysterious conversation and a darkly lit elevator moving speedily upwards. Our protagonist, who’s name is later revealed as Thomas, staggers around the metal cage trying to keep his balance during the ride then drops to the ground out of fear of the possible collision with the ceiling and the elevator. Immediately, this trailer has the viewer’s attention. We need to see what happens. Right there, in only twelve seconds, they have us hooked, and were in for a wild ride.

            Now that it has our attention, it starts to reveal the plot. There seems to be a group of teenagers trapped in the center of a huge, constantly changing maze. The center is known as the Glade, with massive doors leading to the Maze that close during the night. The boys, who remember absolutely nothing of their former lives, try and solve it by what it looks like running through it, hence the name The Maze Runner. The Maze is filled with creepy monsters they call grievers that kill anyone who is

left in the Maze overnight. Thomas, the protagonist, is so curious on what is going on, continuously asking questions and seeking a way out. All the kids in the Glade are male, until a girl shows up, which shocks everyone. The trailer continues to show a lot of action scenes and develops the plot a little more, showing at one point that the doors stop closing and people start getting killed. Then it ends, leaving the audience wanting more.

            From what we have seen in the trailer, we now that this movie is an action thriller, filled with suspense. The actors are not too recognizable, which helps the audience not get sidetracked from what they are watching. The girl, played by Kaya Scodelario, is fairly recognizable if you’re a huge BBC fan, but if you are not from England, I don’t see it being much of a distraction. From what we have seen, we can reason that this film is geared toward teenagers, mainly boys, who love adventure. There will also be a ton of people who see it, because they were big fans of the book, which has been out for the past five years.

The trailer goes on to establish credibility, saying, “Based on the best selling novel,” in big bold letters. This right here lets the audience know that the story must be well written. Also, 20^th Century Fox is a big time player in American film studios, showing that the movie will have the money and the capability to produce a good movie with great special effects. From Everything’s an Argument, “Before we accept the words (or images) of others, we must usually respect their authority,” and this is exactly what we do with 20^th Century Fox. We respect its past works and know that they will do everything they can to make a great movie (Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz).

Our emotions are brought out from seeing such an intense plot filled with kids. We feel bad for teenagers trapped in a huge maze, fending for their lives. We want to see them survive and beat the terrible mystery. Also, the sounds are loud and sharp, giving it a creepy feeling. It is full of screams and screeches along with music that builds the intensity, all tugging on our emotions.

The fact that it all looks very realistic makes it believable. We are not sitting there thinking that this is not logical, because we are already lost in this massive world the producers have created. Even though this is a stretch from reality, we do not worry about it because it seems real visually.

            Because this trailer did everything one could ask for, I am going ahead and giving The Maze Runner 5 pickles.