Films for Thoughts on Thursday: The Maze Runner

This is a weekly meme that I am hosting here at Reviews from a Bookworm. To take part all you have to do is share a movie review once a week, link back to Reviews from a Bookworm and add your link to the linky tool.

FYI

I know I've been absent the last three days, no new posts or reviews, and I'd like to pretend it's because I was off having some semblance of a social life , but I'd be lying. I was ill! And then once I returned to not feeling like crap, I had to go back to work. So I just didn't have the time, energy or patience to write any posts. But... I'm back. For now!

This weeks movie review will be for:


The Maze Runner

Be aware: Some book spoilers but not movie ones.

Before we get into the movie review, I think I should point out that I read and reviewed The Maze Runner by James Dashner. And I hated it. I hated it with a fiery passion that is still burning now. I just have to think of that book and I internally scream in anger and frustration. Such a brilliant idea for a book that was just not pulled off well. I can't even begin to go into everything that was wrong with that book, but if you want to know then you can find my review here. The basic story though: it sucked!

And in gif form, this is basically me when reading the book.

You might be wondering why I then decided to see the movie if I hated the book so much. And I had a few reasons for that. Others who had hated the movie with as much passion as me had seen the film, they said it was so much better than the book. And secondly, like I said earlier, the idea behind The Maze Runner was good, it just wasn't properly executed. I was hoping they would change a lot and turn the movie into what the book should have been. Well, did they succeed...

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

THEY DID!

Thank fuck for movie adaptations! They might have the power to utterly disappoint you and crush your fangirl heart, but they also have the power to turn a bad book into a really good movie. This could be because the story just plays out better on screen or it could be that they pretty much change the whole thing. The Maze Runner is one of those times when I can confidently say that the movie is way better than the book. I was surprisingly happy with it and I am so pleased I decided to go see it, despite how I felt about the book.

What I liked:

To whoever wrote the screenplay.

The changes! There were a lot and I was pretty pleased about all of them. Whoever wrote the adapted screenplay, have a round of applause from me. You did good! In all honesty, to me at least, it felt like it was the basic of basics that they kept the same and they changed most other events. We didn't have to deal with everyone telling Thomas to shut up and stop asking questions,. They actually told him things. Hooray! We didn't have to deal with the ridiculous telepathy element being dropped in halfway through the story. Hooray! The Grievers don't look like weird slugs mixed with machine elements that roll everywhere. They even manage to be a tiny bit scary. Hooray! No silly maps of every section of the maze and long scenes of them trying to find letters in it! Hooray! I actually felt like I got to know the characters. Hooray! This is one of those adaptations where I am beyond pleased that they changed so much. 

The casting! 

I was so happy with the casting for this film! The book left me feeling like I didn't get to know any of the characters. There were some I could tell I could like, if I was given the chance to actually get to know them, and if their characters had a bit more to them. But the book characters all felt really flat. Thankfully they are really brought to life on the screen. I loved Thomas, I thought Dylan O'Brien was the perfect choice for him. Blake Cooper made the most awesome Chuck, I just loved him! It was so nice to see them make Minho a braver character than what he was in the book. I had a lot more respect for his character because of it. And, can I just say, thank god they didn't keep Theresa in a coma for half the film or that would have annoyed me. This way we actually get to know the character before all the action starts to happen.

The pace! I thought the book was really slow going and not what I'd been expecting. I'd seen adverts for the trailer and assumed it would be an action-packed book. It wasn't. Thankfully they changed that for the film and picked up the pace. They got rid of all the time that was wasting with Thomas trying to get answers, only to be told to shut up. They made the Grievers a lot more scary and badass, so when they attack, they attack hard. There was some necessary info-dumping at the beginning of the movie, but after that I felt the movie was all action, action action.

It wasn't the book! 

Hahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhaha!

What I didn't like:

The ending! The ending was completely infuriating in the book because it just didn't make a whole lot of sense. The reason for them being in the maze didn't make sense. The answers you spend the whole book waiting for just lead to way more questions. It was confusing and didn't really make any sense. They changed it in the book, but the general idea is the same and it still makes no sense. Hopefully they will explain it more and better in the next film.

7/10 Butterflies

I was ridiculously pleased with The Maze Runner film! A brilliant adaptation, where they managed to turn a crap book into a decent film. My main issues with the film were aspects that were caused by the many plot holes that irked me in the book. They took the main idea of The Maze Runner book and managed to execute it well, something that wasn't managed in the book. They basically managed to do what they book could have been if the concept was given to someone who had a clue what to do with it. I was really pleased with the film and plan to continue the film series, whilst avoiding the book series. I don't need that kind of suffering in my life!

In my blogoversary post I posted my giveaway to celebrate 1 year of blogging. I am giving one winner the chance to win up to £40 worth of books of their choice from Book Depository. I am also giving one runner up a book of their choice, worth up to £10 from Book Depository.

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