Wes Ball
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The Hunger Games (2012)
Directed by Gary Ross
influenced The Maze Runner (2014), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Themes Plot Characters
The world of "The Maze Runner" is so small, especially compared to the vast universes conjured up by things like "The Hunger Games" or "Harry Potter" franchises, so those outside elements act as a way to broaden and expand what is a relatively contained environment.
The story clearly harkens back to dystopian classics such as Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm, but contemporary viewers will probably judge it only as a less sexy version of The Hunger Games.
It combines elements of “Lord of the Flies” with the Minotaur and Orpheus myths, but it plays as something closer to “The Hunger Games” experienced through a dissociative fog.
The inspiration for and the aspirations of the Baton Rouge-shot " The Maze Runner " are so simple and so transparent that both can be summed up in but three words: "The Hunger Games.
Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen is a compelling heroine in The Hunger Games , while Divergent , though a mixed bag, has a lead to root for in Shailene Woodley's Tris Prior.
The filmmakers of course copy as much as they can from The Hunger Games, Divergent, even Ender's Game.
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Directed by Tim Burton
influenced Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Themes
REVIEW – ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' beautifully continues the epic legacy of its predecessors
Posted at 16:27h
in Reviews
by Doug Jamieson
When 20th Century Fox rebooted its seemingly dormant Planet of the Apes franchise in 2011, few expected Rise of the Planet of the Apes to launch three films that not only collectively earned $1.6 billion worldwide but also become one of the best trilogies in cinema history.
While the original Planet of the Apes understandably gets a lot of attention, its four sequels were ambitious, wild films that continuously pushed the boundaries of what this series could be (including people living within the earth, nuclear bombs, and time travel). The recent reboot trilogy, which included Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes, took a serious, grounded approach to these movies, and provided one of the best film series of the 2010s.
Divergent (2014)
Directed by Neil Burger
influenced Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Themes Plot
Yet unlike the “Divergent” series, which was undone by an increasingly generic vibe — hope you haven’t been holding your breath for the scuttled feature resolution, “Ascendant” — O’Brien and the gang get a shot at redeeming their franchise.
I can’t say the delay hurt the film in any noticeable way, as this series, for all its visual flourish and visceral action theatrics has always tilted more in the director of Divergent and its ilk than it does The Hunger Games.
Unlike The Hunger Games or Divergent, a monstrous autocracy is not responsible for all the world’s ills.
Despite the monster success of “The Hunger Games,” most of the follow-ups have fallen apart along the way (a la “Divergent”) or never really gotten off the ground in the first place (“I Am Number Four;” “The 5th Wave;” “The Mortal Instruments;” etc.).
That one of the most charitable things one could say about Maze Runner: The Death Cure is that at least it finished out the trilogy plan suggested by its source material, unlike the Divergent series, is hollow praise if ever there was such a thing.
The filmmakers of course copy as much as they can from The Hunger Games, Divergent, even Ender's Game.
"The Maze Runner," adapted by scribes Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin from the 2007 novel by James Dashner (the first in a trilogy), seems to share a closer kinship to William Golding's 1954 classic "Lord of the Flies" than to most of the modern fantasy YA book-to-screen upstarts.
The Maze Runner can be broken down as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies by way of Lindelof and Cuse’s Lost.
Yes, there are strong touches here of the classic film “Lord of the Flies,” based on the William Golding novel, because there is that concept of young people creating a society out of nothing.
Director Wes Ball's ambitious pitch for The Maze Runner is Lord of the Flies meets Lost - unfortunately the end result is all high-concept and no trousers, lacking the thematic weight of William Golding's yarn or the compelling intrigue of ABC's primetime hit.
"The Maze Runner," adapted by scribes Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin from the 2007 novel by James Dashner (the first in a trilogy), seems to share a closer kinship to William Golding's 1954 classic "Lord of the Flies" than to most of the modern fantasy YA book-to-screen upstarts.
The Maze Runner can be broken down as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies by way of Lindelof and Cuse’s Lost.
So how does The 5th Wave compare to The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner, or the other YA novels hitting theaters?
Like in The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner , price young people take center stage early on in this drama.
If part of YA’s appeal is that it provides a fantasy of independence from parents at a time when young people find it deferred longer than ever, Enrique Chediak’s glossless digital photography locates The 5th Wave very much in the here and now, investing it with the same earthiness he gave 2014’s The Maze Runner.
This sci-fi fantasy, from the first book in Rick Yancey’s ongoing YA series, mimics the riffs (feisty heroine, hunky boys, dystopian setting, devious adult corporations, potential love triangles etc) but lacks the cinematic legs of The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner .
After “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and “The Maze Runner” series have jammed multiplexes in recent years, “The 5th Wave,” indeed, feels like the fifth wave of book-to-screen adaptations of end-of-the-world stories aimed at young adults.
In young adult hits of the same genre, such as “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent” or “The Maze Runner” the metaphor has a bit more freedom because the worlds in which they take place are visually fantastical, and therefore removed from our reality.
Debut feature director Wes Ball won the job solely off the back of his attention-grabbing CGI short Ruin, in which a nameless protagonist is chased across a sprawling sci-fi landscape by a helijet, coming across like a next-gen videogame version of Spielberg’s Duel .
Mazes and Monsters (1982)
Directed by Steven Hilliard Stern
influenced The Maze Runner (2014)
Characters
You're thinking of Mazes and Monsters, though Dylan O'Brien does kind of resemble a young Pardieu .
O’Brien, who plays a modern incarnation of Stiles on MTV’s Teen Wolf, does a nice job in the lead.
The young cast is for the most part an agreeable bunch: O’Brien, who cut his teeth on MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” and Scodelario, who was in the original British version of “Skins,” go through their paces efficiently enough, and though Poulter is stuck in a one-note angry-young-man persona that doesn’t give him room to build on what he managed in “Son of Rambow” and “We’re the Millers,” he does what the role demands of him well enough.
The film’s lead, Dylan O’Brien, star of the MTV series “Teen Wolf,” gets his big screen comeuppance (he had a supporting role in last year’s “ The Internship “) as a frightened young lad in a locked elevator cage going up, without a clue how he got there, and without his memory.
This aim is bolstered by a surprisingly strong cast, led by Teen Wolf ’s Dylan O’Brien, who charges Thomas with a restless, intense charm that drives the movie’s sense of restless wanderlust hiding beneath the survivalist structure.
That's not Dylan O'Brien's ("Teen Wolf") fault.
In particular, they streamline the book’s interminable opening, in which newcomer Thomas (Dylan O’Brien, star of TV’s Teen Wolf) asks more frustrated questions than a secondary character on Lost, and gets fewer answers, with less reason.
From Battle Royale to The Hunger Games to The Maze Runner to Series 7: The Contenders to Squid Game, virtually every new take on the concept is compared to a predecessor.
Love Actually (2003)
Directed by Richard Curtis
influenced The Maze Runner (2014), Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
He’s quickly indoctrinated by a trio of helpful mates: spiritual leader Alby (Aml Ameen), cheeky Brit Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the lovesick kid from “Love Actually”) and the cherubic Chuck (Blake Cooper, channeling a young Jonah Hill).
Leader Alby (Aml Ameen of Brit TV series The Bill) and lieutenant Newt (elfin Thomas Brodie-Sangster, all grown up since Love Actually) help the confused newbie, dubbed “greenie” by the guys, find his feet.
His pacing casually unites a number of disparate elements: a noseless Walton Goggins; an ineffective border wall; the former little kid from Love Actually ; a love story so perfunctory that it’s almost respectable.
At least some of Thomas' friends, such as Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster of Love Actually, who looks like a Dickensian orphan) and kick-ass Brenda (Rosa Salazar), bring more quirk and charisma to the table.
Thomas (Dylan O’Brien as the saga’s blank hero) and his pals Newt (“Love Actually” peewee Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Frypan (Dexter Darden) decide to break into the walled fortress and free the children from the evil clutches of the people who are trying to… uh… save what’s left of the human race.
Unfortunately, Scodelario, so good recently in Wuthering Heights, does get lost; she does what she can, but her character seems to be waiting around for the sequel to completely reveal herself.
Then there's Scodelario, a nuanced young actress ( Wuthering Heights ) who's wasted on the tiny role of Teresa, the only girl ever to be sent to the Glade (this isn't Peeta and Katniss or Tris and Four).
The Giver (2014)
Directed by Phillip Noyce
influenced Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Plot Themes
Like The Hunger Games , Divergent , The Giver and more, the saga — adapted from James Dashner’s YA novels — features teens running around in a barren dystopia and trying to rebel against a sinister organization, i.e., “WCKD.”
But try sitting through “The Giver” or “I Am Number Four.”
Rookie director Wes Ball delivered a movie that brought to mind “Lord of the Flies” as much as “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent,” or “The Giver.”
(How many remember The Giver , also 2014, or the previous year's Ender's Game ?).
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Directed by George Miller
influenced Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Visuals Plot
Ball’s action sequences have a tangible, accessible quality about them, which is especially true in his doozy of an opening sequence: a 10-minute car chase/train robbery across the desert that’s got a grit, intensity and rough-hewn aesthetic reminiscent of “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
The sequence plays out as part Mad Max: Fury Road car chase, part Fast and the Furious heist; it gets the blood pumping from the outset, and sets up the tone for this final instalment.
The opening action sequence, a train attack reminiscent of moments from Fast Five and Mad Max: Fury Road , is very much in the spirit of this newest and improved Maze Runner : fast-paced, heavily indebted to other and better movies, and pretty enjoyable.
This is no Mad Max: Fury Road, but anyone jonesing for a new Fast & Furious movie could do worse.
“The Death Cure” opens with a spectacularly staged train rescue indebted to “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
Yes, it's painfully obvious the film, based on James Dashner's popular fantasy novels, borrows from "Lord of the Flies" ... and "The Terminator" ... and maybe even "Alien," and any film in which humans are unwittingly used in supersized experiments.
In perhaps the most memorable modern approximation, "The Shining," a hedge maze is employed for the film's snowy climax, in order to trap another deadly monster – an alcoholic author played by Jack Nicholson.
Blade Runner (1982)
Directed by Ridley Scott
influenced Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Visuals Themes
Inside the Last City is a bit Blade Runner meets RoboCop with a dash of Gattaca, lots of neon and glass… and yet not sinister but kinda cool.
At 2 hours and 22 minutes, though, Death Cure really does drag, as the gang constantly rescues and re-rescues one another across Mad Max , and then Blade Runner backdrops.
The film draws its sci-fi tropes from everything from Blade Runner to The Road Warrior to 28 Days Later to Final Fantasy VII, but at teen-movie scale, where there’s a ceiling to the violence and the cursing (boy, do these kids like to say “shit,” though), and there’s something delightfully accessible about it all.
So I missed and then willfully skipped the second film— The Scorch Trials , it was called—and now, checking back in for The Death Cure , the concluding installment of this franchise, I discover that the story has taken a hard left turn into an action-crazed Mad Max universe, with a pit stop in Blade Runner -ville.
The Death Cure, the final adaptation of James Dashner’s dystopian Maze Runner novels, starts with a combination train robbery/prison break sequence that recalls not one, but two set-pieces from the first act of Fast & Furious 5 – or Fast Five as it’s known outside the UK.
The opening action sequence, a train attack reminiscent of moments from Fast Five and Mad Max: Fury Road , is very much in the spirit of this newest and improved Maze Runner : fast-paced, heavily indebted to other and better movies, and pretty enjoyable.
All six are engaged in a daring train heist (because you can’t go wrong if you stick close to Fast Five ) in order to free the captured Minho (Ki Hong Lee).
The rescue mission that opens The Death Cure, which will surely give déjà vus to Fast Five fans (or those who have seen the director’s studio magnet of a short), and a Swordfish-esque bus sequence see Ball’s vision—full of thrilling kineticism and careful attention to detail—firing on all cylinders.
The Maze Runner’s similarities to well-known literary works (Nineteen Eighty-Four and Lord of the Flies among them) and speculative fiction thrillers (Logan’s Run, Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, for instance) are almost more reassuring than disconcerting.
Director Wes Ball's adaptation adds a pinch of "Lost" and "Logan's Run" into the teen-dystopian genre's hormonal stew.
Take note, Eragon’s Stefen Fangmeier, Maleficent’s Robert Stromberg, or today’s Michael Bay.