credit: The Maze Runner
The Maze Runner is a 2014 post-apocalyptic film featuring Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Patricia Clarkson, Dylan O’Brien, Will Poulter, and Kaya Scodelario. Unfortunately, the movie’s “post-apocalyptic” factor was only known at the near end when the characters finally discovered the reason why they were inside the “maze” that they had to “run.”
Below, we will have a recap of this movie. Then, we will follow the story of the boys (and an additional girl) trapped inside the maze. We will know how they adapted to the maze environment to know the appropriate approaches to the exit.
Let’s now dive in!
The Glade
A boy woke up and found himself being transported upwards by an elevator. He had no recollection of anything, even his name. Finally, the elevator stopped, and he was welcomed by some boys who had established a settlement in a grassy plain enclosed by stone walls. The residents of the place called their village the “Glade.”
They told the boy that they were in the maze’s center and that they had “runners” who went out of the cGladeering to study the place to look for a possible exit. However, the “runners” should return before night because the entrance to the Glade would be closed by the stone walls.
After one fight with a Glader who hated him from the beginning, Gally, the boy, finally remembered his name – Thomas.
credit: The Maze Runner
The Escape
Robotic creatures infested the maze called the “Grievers,” who made wailing sounds at night. One day, Thomas was attacked by the runner Ben because he seemed infected after being stung by a griever. As punishment, Ben was banished from the Glade and was left to die outside it at night.
The leader of the boys, Alby, and the lead runner, Minho, went back to where Ben was from the day before. However, Alby was stung and had to be taken back to the Glade. The doors were closing, Thomas tried to help, but unfortunately, they closed before them, leaving them prone to Griever ambushes. Thomas deliberately killed a Griever by sticking it between two colliding walls, crushing it to death. Gally was angry because, for him, he ruined the Griever-Glader harmony.
A girl arrived at the lift with the note that she would be the last “shipment” that would come. Some runners went back to the corpse of the Griever Thomas killed. They plucked a beeping device out of it.
The girl remembered her name – Teresa. She had two syringes containing some unknown substance. One dose was injected into Alby, and he was cured of the delirious effects of the Griever sting. Minho, who had shown Thomas a map of the maze, went back to sector numbered seven because it was the number written on the stinger they pulled from the Griever corpse. Unfortunately, they accidentally triggered some traps, so they did not continue further and had to retreat. That night, the maze did not close, allowing some Grievers to wreak havoc in their settlement.
All these times, Thomas had visions of a laboratory and some doctor’s work, but could not piece it all. He stabbed himself with the stinger to remember, and then he was to be injected with the last of the syringes Teresa had. He remembered that he and Teresa used to work in the organization WCKD, and the Gladers were subjects for an experiment.
After some internal struggles, they elected to go to Sector 7 and open the door. Finally, after some fights with Grievers, they managed to open the passageway.
credit: The Maze Runner
The ending
Inside, they found the lab by the WCKD. There, they found a video recording of the scientist Ava Paige who explained that the world was destroyed by a massive solar flare, killing the world in flames and causing famine. This gave rise to a pandemic called “the Flare,” and they were being experimented upon for the cure. The scientist then shot herself as military men infiltrated the room. The corpse of the said scientist was found on the floor of the next room.
Gally, stung by a Griever, appeared in the room and attempted to shoot Thomas, claiming they would never be free. Chuck, a kid with a toy, took the shot for him, and Minho impaled Gally. The survivors were escorted by military personnel aboard a helicopter.
Ava Paige appeared in a conference room, still wiping the fake blood from her fake suicide, noting to others that the experiments were successful and the subjects were ready for Phase Two.
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