This week, I decided to give The Maze Runner a trial run (see what I did there?). It was a last minute decision, and I was sure I was about to see another knockoff Hunger Games movie (I’m looking at you Divergent). 

I was wrong.

The Maze Runner is an intelligently written, and well acted, adventure mystery. Full of unknown actors (though the actor playing Gally did look like he could Chipper Jones’ son), I was very pleasantly surprised. This movie does a great job of asking the question, “What is home?” Gally really raises a great question. He was a great catalyst in the movie and lent credence to  a theme other than just “teens versus monsters”. 

Home is different for each of us. We all come from different walks of life – we all acclimate to our surroundings as we grow – we all internalize and identify with our environments. Even prisoners.

Do you ever wonder what life would be like elsewhere? Do you have the curiosity of Thomas, the main character, or are you content with a static environment? Themes like these are fantastic motivators and instigators of internal and external challenges. The Maze Runner does a great job of characterizing these challenges, while not skimping on the action.

This movie was definitely not Divergent; it wasn’t even Hunger Games. This movie lived and breathed on its own, and succeeded.