Recently, we saw previews for the 3rd installment of Maze Runner and it looked good. I told Wife and she said we should see parts 1 and 2 before we watch the third one. Thanks to the magic of DVRs and Netflix wife quickly said she had all three available for viewing. We didn't have much going on this weekend and since we went to the movies on Friday night, Saturday, we stayed in. We went to Central Market and got a bunch of overpriced foods to eat, it was payday Friday and we figured it was still cheaper than going out to eat.
The first Maze Runner was in a word, crappy. The kid wakes up in an elevator and pops up in the middle of a field, great for the initial suspense, but for us that haven't read the books, we need a little filler as to what or why these kids are getting put in the maze. We didn't get the explanation until almost the last ten minutes and by then I barely cared. There was one kid we were rooting for to survive and of course, they had to kill his fat little ass. Chuck did not fit the mold of the other kids who all looked like they could be "runners" and at least five years older. With his curly hair and chubby physique, I joked to Javalina, "look your twin." He said "shut up, you know a fat kid isn't going to make it to the end of the movie." I joked yeah, he reminded us of Piggy from Lord of the Flies, which he and Wife said the movie seemed like. I agreed, but that still didn't say why they were there in the middle of a maze. Add to that the foreshadowing of him giving the little carving to Thomas to give to his parents and we could tell he wouldn't make it. It was a senseless way to kill him too, I mean an errant shot with the escape door right there and the light of freedom coming through, come on, that was so much bullshit. I guess he was too young to see him make it through the next level, whatever.
Then there is the whole thing of the maze, that would be like a two billion dollar project, somebody would have to be financing that while the world around them is dying of a freak virus. Why erase their minds and not tell them anything about the maze? It obviously wasn't working as the kids were perfectly comfortable staying in the open field and sending the faster kids into the maze. Thomas wasn't like them, so as scientists, they were changing the mice they were putting in the maze, maybe they should have removed all the previous mice that refused to follow the rules that they didn't explain. What was the purpose of sending the girl in? She didn't do much other than be a girl. Was the maze a game of wits and strategy? Only Thomas seemed to out think it. Everyone else that got out did so by being a follower, nobody else was exceptional, if you are using this as a test to use their sperm to make the next generation of humans. Thomas kind of put the data together that had been gained by the runners so even his accomplishments are on the backs of others. Best you could say is they got out by working as a team, how does that help if the test is supposed to identify the truly gifted?
Needless to say, I told Wife to just delete parts two and three, fuck that. If the best they can do with an auxiliary character that the masses liked is kill him, for another second of "oh no!", then the books are not in tune with their audiences. For example, it is not uncommon in Chinese movies that the hero dies, like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. American audiences would loose their minds if you killed the Rock, or Keanu Reeves or whoever is saving us. Same for the goofy sidekick, he should get out unscathed, he is there to make the moments lighter and add a touch of humanity.
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