Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Maze Runner: book vs movie

The Maze Runner is a quickly growing franchise based on a novel by Josh Dashner. It’s one of those young-adult fiction that is located in dystopia. It became popular with the release of the movie, which features some of the best young adult actors such as Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Sangster and Will Poulter. 
But because the movie ends with a cliffhanger, I decided to read the book as well, hoping to get more information about what is going on. The writer took part in making of the movie, so I expected a bunch of similarities and very few changes, but I was surprised by the difference. 
The basic story is that Thomas, a teenager, finds himself in the centre of a giant maze without any memory whatsoever, only to be welcomed by other boys into a community that seems to be living in the maze. Soon he becomes a Runner (=a person who runs around the maze, mapping and memorising it), but that’s when trouble starts. He triggers strange events, leading to finding the solution of how to escape. When they get out, they are faced with the real world and the reason why they were put into a maze, making them question their own existence. 
So there is a question: Is it better to read a book or watch a movie?
I’m a big supporter of reading the book first, yet in this case I watched the movie before even opening a book. The movie has a lot of action in it, lots of guys trying to prove themselves, a lot of rushed decisions and it’s perfect for the big screen because of the constant tension. It has a gripping plot, just enough mystery to keep you thinking about it and a cliffhanger that makes you go insane. 
The book, on the other hand, is much more deliberate. Events that take place are there for a reason and nobody rushes into anything, because they realise their lives depend on it. Compared to a movie it is much more intelligent; from how they live in the glade to how they figure out the way out of the maze. In the book they truly are geniuses, like they are supposed to be, while in the movie they just seem like hormonal teenage boys who constantly argue. 
To sum it up, if you read the book first you will build up your expectations and be disappointed. However, if you watch the movie first, the book will fill you in on things they left out. So my advice is to do both, read the book and watch the movie, because each of them is unique and has touching moments in it that you don’t want to miss.

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