The YA (young adult) movie craze has been one of the mainstay genres ever since "Twilight" first popularised the genre in 2008. But not every popular YA book-to-movie adaptation turns out to be an instant box office success. While movies like "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" made tons of money, the same cannot be said with a number of disastrous flops such as "Beautiful Creatures" and "The Mortal Instruments: City Of Ashes". This week, another YA-centric movie jumps in the bandwagon and that movie in question is "The Maze Runner", the first movie adaptation from James Dashner's hugely popular YA post-apocalyptic science fiction trilogy (the other two sequels are "The Scorch Trials" and "The Death Cure"). And while we are waiting for the movie's general release this 11 September, here are our 5 reasons why "The Maze Runner" will blow your mind! 1. It's a male-centric movie for a change in the YA genre!
Of late, the YA movie craze is all about presenting strong-willed female characters. Case in point is Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) from "Twilight" franchise, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) from "The Hunger Games" franchise, and Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) from "Divergent" franchise. But in "The Maze Runner", it's a refreshing of pace to see that male characters take center stage for the movie. Even though "The Maze Runner" does have an obligatory female lead in the form of Kaya Scodelario as Teresa, it remains pretty much a testosterone-driven movie in the YA genre. 2. This is not a chick flick.
From "Twilight" to "Divergent", love stories often served as a major source that shaped the YA genre. However, "The Maze Runner" is daring enough to break that mould and turn the movie into an action-packed adventure that both the young and old viewers will love without relying much on the mushy-mushy stuff. 3. It's a movie filled with fresh talent.
For a YA adaptation as popular as "The Maze Runner", it's certainly a huge gamble to let mostly fresh talent lead such a franchise, however, this also makes "The Maze Runner" an intriguing movie to check out. For instance, the lead actor, Dylan O'Brien made his smooth transition from his iconic role in TV's "Teen Wolf" to his breakthrough lead performance as Thomas in "The Maze Runner". Then there's Wes Ball, who made his feature directorial debut here, actually has an impressive resume in the form of a short film called "Ruin". You can check out his short film below, and it's simply mind-blowing!
4. The central premise about The Maze is intriguing.
One of the major hooks in "The Maze Runner" is the gripping story involving a group of male survivors called "The Gladers" trying to find way to escape through the gigantic maze filled with mechanical creatures known as "Grievers". It's the kind of story that will raise your curiosity about where the maze might lead to at the very end. 5. Sequel of "The Maze Runner", "The Scorch Trials" is already on the way!
Good news for the fans of "The Maze Runner" book series, as director Wes Ball has announced the sequel of "The Maze Runner", titled "The Scorch Trials", at the recent San Diego Comic-Con International. The shooting will commence in late 2014 if the first movie becomes a box office hit when it opens this 11 September. The sequel, of course, will pick up where the first movie left off in a major cliffhanger that will surely leave audiences with more questions than answers. "The Maze Runner" opens in cinemas nationwide on 11 September 2014.