Yidio Review: 'The Maze Runner' Thrills...Then Sputters to an End

Yes, "The Hunger Games" is still going. Yes, "Divergent" has only just begun.

And yes, "The Maze Runner" is yet another adaptation of a YA novel series.

But in a crowded field, "Maze Runner" might be one of the better YA adaptations out there, even if only for its dark, thrilling action sequences.

Based on the novel by the same name, "The Maze Runner" follows a teenage boy who wakes up in the center of a huge maze with a group of other boys, all of whom have no memory of how they got there. Left to solve the mystery of their imprisonment, the group must deal with the horrors that the maze offers at night in addition to the complexities it offers during the day.

"The Maze Runner" is a fairly faithful adaptation, and an appropriately dark one at that. It makes little effort to punch up the teen-friendly moments in the story, a sin that "Divergent" committed more than once with cheezy sequences and inspirational music cues.

Instead, "Maze Runner" revels in its bleakness, and makes the monsters in the story as terrifying as they should be. The action is indeed action-packed, and the mystery of it all draws you in almost immediately.

However, the story starts to fall apart towards the end, leading to an unsatisfying conclusion that offers more questions than answers. This isn't necessarily the fault of the movie, though; it follows the book closely, and it seems as though the movie was designed to set up a sequel all along, just like the book was.

Thus, if you're hoping for a one-and-done experience, you're not going to be happy with this one. And unfortunately, unless the movies make some serious adjustments to the arc of the book trilogy, you can count on the sequels to be much more disappointing as far as the story, and the logic of the sci-fi world set up therein, goes.

If you're a fan of "The Maze Runner" and you plan on watching every movie as long as 20th Century Fox keeps rolling them out (the sequel, "The Scorch Trials," is already a go), then you should go see this faithful adaptation.

If you're hoping for a simple action flick for your weekend that will tie itself up with a bow, then this isn't for you.