The maze runner movie trilogy has been around for over a decade now. The movies, directed by Wes Ball, who also directed Planet of the Apes, and starred Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Ki Hong Lee have been very successful at stapling a memorable story in the watchers mind’s, forming a dystopian universe where the government is in control of your fate causing panic and disarray in civilizations. 

Dylan O’brian’s performance as Thomas, the main character, was impactful to the storyline due to his capability to create emotion and add movement that made the situations his character was placed in to be exaggerated, therefore, giving the audience a real life reaction and have empathy for his character. 

Dylan’s co-stars’s, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played Newt, and Ki Hong Lee, who played Minho, performances were just as impactful to the trilogy as Dylan’s. Thomas  Brodie-Sangster’s emotion was expressed through Newt’s often mood changes and his sympathy in the movies. Newt’s character is a young boy who has a chokehold on the audience due to his kind, loyal, and protective nature, as well as his strength and leadership. Ki Hong Lee’s performance, specifically in the third movie: Maze Runner: The Death Cure, was heart-shattering and caused the audience to feel the emotions and betrayal that Mihno felt in the movie. Ki truly gave a ground-breaking performance and executed his role to near perfection. In the movies Minho was known for his impeccable sense of direction, strong, and athletic separates him from the rest of the boys in the glade.  

The Maze Runner

The movie itself was interesting. The ideas of isolation and control definitely caused a ripple effect that foreshadowed the idea of a higher power forcing isolation on the boys.  This movie was ranked by the audience number 1 out of the three movies in the trilogy because it provides a more compelling and unique storyline, stronger pacing, and a greater sense of mystery than the other two. This storyline develops consistently and thoroughly throughout the movie. The exposition gives a detailed backstory, the setting, location, characters, and main conflict. The issue with the main conflict is that in the first movie, it is pushed aside as the trilogy evolves because of the change in location and depth in the movie. The main conflict in the first movie was that they were isolated and had no escape. The grievers, the physical obstacles, besides the actual maze, were sent by an authority figure to prevent the boys from being able to escape. This conflict shifted almost entirely in the second movie. 

This movie overall had fairly good cinematography with the state of the glade declining overtime as the plot progressed. 

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

This movie is by far the weakest movie in the trilogy. This is because of the apocalyptic view more than the dystopian original film that are more interesting and less obvious. When you create an apocalyptic movie, you need aspects of surprise that their film lacked. The action in this movie definitely intrigued the audience to keep them interested, but the key storyline was like any other apocalyptic film. 

Dylan’s performance in the end made the movie more intriguing than it would’ve been without him. The emotions he was able to make the watcher feel was something that you don’t see in actors now.

The irony of the script, written by T.S Nowlin, after he reveals Thomas’s love interest as Teresa, played by Kaya Scodelario, and then she betrays him definitely shattered the audience. 

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Ki Hong Lee’s performance in this movie made all the difference. His ability to play such a vulnerable character that had just been through straight torture was impressive. His ability to capture Minho’s rage, sadness, and betrayal that he felt in this movie was fantastic. 

Thomas and Dylan’s capability to make Newt and Thomas’s chemistry as realistic as possible was very impactful to the feeling Wes Ball wanted the audience to feel during the last 40 minutes of the movie.  The main conflict was resolved in this movie, yet the conflict was never fully resolved. They never really found peace and overall just let the pain and grieving linger. 

The reappearance of Gally, one of the characters from the first movie who everyone had previously thought was dead, played by Will Poulter, definitely caused both confusion and relief. There was never a clear reasoning on how he survived, but in doing so, he helped the boys escape in the end.