The Maze Runner 2014

Storyline Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in "The Glade" for three years, trying to find a way to escape through the Maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change. There are some great, fast-paced action scenes, particularly those involving the nightmarish Grievers who plague the boys. Written by KelseyJ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl Slangs, idioms and expressions used in the movie (By Mohsen Abolhassani) 1. Rise and shine = wake up early 2. He looks like a slopper to me 3. In a day or two 4. For a second, I thought you had the chops to be the runner till you faceplanted جربزه داشتن 5. I hope you're not afraid of heights 6. You'll get along just fine باهاش خو ميگيري / كنار مياي/ عادت ميكني 7. Do your part. No time for freeloaders! 8. I clunked my pants three times = defecated 9. Hell of a first day! 10. it will put some hair on your chest = it will make you a man 11. It's a lot easier said than done = گفتن اش آسونه / بيرون گود می گه لنگش کن 12. You're supposed to be the guest of honor مهمان افتخاري Page 2 of 12 13. They're very good with their hands but not a lot going on upstairs! مخشون تعطيله / بالاخونه شون تعطيله 14. Wanna see what you're made of? ؟ نميخواي خودي نشون بدي ((مثلا در دعوا / كشتي گرفتن 15. I think we've settled on X (بازم صد رحمت به ... (طعنه 16. Let's tuck it in for the night! براي امشب ديگه بسه / بريم بخوابيم 17. The ivy doesn't go all the way to top 18. Dig us up some more fertilizer 19. He's not making any sense! از حرفهاش چيزي نميشه فهميد 20. The infection is spreading 21. We'll tie it off 22. Ben gets stung in broad daylight 23. When I turned tail and ran… وقتي دمم رو گذاشتم رو كولم و دررفتم 24. Let's not jump the gun here! انقدر عجله نكن / عجولانه تصميم نگير 25. If you want to throw the newbie a parade, that's fine اگرميخواهيد گنده اش كنيد / ببريدش بالا 26. Let's not jump to any conclusion نسنجيده نتيجه گيري كردن 27. You gotta go dissect that thing all by yourself تشريح كردن 28. It's time to find out what we're up against با چي طرفيم 29. It was Aly's call تصميم / نظر 30. From now on, someone watches him round the clock 31. You'll run better on a full stomach 32. Suffering on a global scale 33. You're not thinking straight 34. They seem to have taken the bate Page 3 of 12 The glossary of the movie to get the viewers all aboard Baggers = Those in the Glade whose job it is to clean up dead bodies. They are also the guards and act as police within the Glade. Beetle Blade = A silvery creature designed by the Creators to watch the boys in the Glade. Blood House The name given by the Gladers to the slaughterhouse where livestock are killed for consumption. Cavorting = To leap or dance about in a lively manner; to engage in extravagant behavior. Claustrophobia = A fear of being trapped in close or narrow spaces. Dilapidated = Decayed, deteriorated, or fallen into near ruin, usually by neglect. Emanating = Originating or flowing from a particular source. Epiphany = A sudden understanding or realization of the previously hidden nature of something; an intuitive grasp of reality through an event; an illuminating discovery or disclosure. Eradicate = To wipe out or destroy. Gathering = A meeting held by the Keepers, these are called when something unexpected or terrible occurs. Gladers = Inhabitants of the Glade Greenbean/ Greenie = Derogatory nickname for anyone who has newly arrived to the Glade. Grievers = Giant slug‐like monsters that are armed with mechanical arms and weapons. They do not appear to have faces or heads and it is unclear if they are animals or machines or some sort of hybrid. They roam the Maze at night. Homestead = The name given to the dilapidated wooden building constructed by the Gladers as their home. Keepers = The leaders of the Glade, these individuals each independently supervise various jobs in the Glade. Together they form a council that meets to make executive decisions. Klunk = Euphemism for feces or defecation. Page 4 of 12 Litany = A lengthy recitation or enumeration; a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications by the leader with alternate responses by the congregation. Lurching = Staggering, abrupt movement Map‐makers = The job title of those Gladers who are charged with mapping out the Maze from information brought to them by the Runners. Med‐jacks = The medical personnel of the Glade. Normalcy = The state or fact of being normal. Obscurity = The quality or state of being obscure; a state of being shrouded in or hidden by darkness, or not readily known or understood. Piqued = Having a feeling of resentment; feeling that one's pride has been hurt; also to arouse interest; to arouse curiosity as in "piqued my interest". Runners = The group of Gladers who spend their days out in the Maze, attempting to map it and find a way out. Shank = A new member of the Glade. Shuck = A euphemism for the F‐word. Slim it = "Shut up", to order someone to be quiet. Slinthead = A derogatory insult Slopper = Job title for this Gladers who clean the toilets, showers, kitchen, as well as the Blood House after the slaughter. It is generally viewed as the worst job in the Glade. Stoic = One who is seemingly indifferent to or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain. Also, A member of an originally Greek school of philosophy, founded by Zeno about 308 B.C., believing that God determined everything for the best and that virtue is sufficient for happiness. Its later Roman form advocated the calm acceptance of all occurrences as the unavoidable result of divine will or of the natural order. The Changing = The term used to describe the changes one goes through after being stung by a Griever. The Flare = A terrible disease that plagued the world before the Gladers were imprisoned. Alby remembers it while going through the Changing. The Pole = A long aluminum shaft with a retractable collar at the end. It is used to escort banished Gladers to the Maze. Page 5 of 12 The Serum = Medicine, delivered intravenously, that is given to any Glader that is stung by a Griever. The medicine is part of the regular delivery that comes to the Glade via the Box. Without the Serum it is unclear how long one can survive following a Griever sting. The Slammer = A jail built into the north side of the Homestead. Track‐hoes = The name given to Gladers who work in the Gardens ‐ tilling, weeding, planting and harvesting. Trepidation = A state of alarm or dread; apprehension. Good luck! Mohsen Abolhassani's comments on the movie: The Maze Runner Themes Friendship Friendship is a necessity in the Glade. Without a strong sense of community based on personal relationships, the Gladers would not be able to survive. Relying on one another to fill certain roles allows for a functional society that is self‐sustaining. Thomas is able to make friends after arriving, particularly with Chuck. Chuck believes in Thomas's ability to lead them to safety, but more than anything sees Thomas as his closest friend. Thomas is occasionally annoyed by Chuck, but it is strongly hinted that these boys might be brothers. Thomas also forms a close working bond with Minho. This bond allows Thomas to assume a more active role in the Glader community, and which allows him to lead the others out of the Maze. Thomas's closest bond, however, is with Teresa. It is a bond that remains largely unexplored by the end of the novel but even the little contact the two characters have with each other is poignant and loaded. They recognize each other as friends even without knowing anything about each other or themselves. Their previous friendship left an imprint that no amount of memory‐wiping could fully erase. Furthermore, they each stores some memory of their collective past. In this manner, our friends can be seen as repositories and reflections of our shared lives. Page 6 of 12 Persistence Despite having been imprisoned in the Glade for two years, the Gladers have not given up on trying to solve the Maze. Not trying to solve it would mean giving up and succumbing to a sense of hopelessness. Though the task may come to feel pointless, they continue to persevere. Thomas is able to tap into this spirit when he begins to emerge as a leader. He does this primarily by demonstrating persistence and perseverance when he is trapped in the Maze with Minho and Alby. By not giving up or accepting the traditional viewpoint that a night in the Maze means certain death, Thomas is able to form a plan to keep himself and the other two boys alive. He emerges as a hero who has bucked the trend and given hope to a beleaguered community. Death Despite the minor conveniences and comforts the Gladers have managed to establish, the Glade and the surrounding Maze carry a specter of death. Thomas feels this almost immediately upon arriving in the Glade. He only wants to leave and escape. Overcoming this constant sense of fear and trepidation becomes a key point to maintaining his sanity and mental well‐being. Thomas's discovery of the graveyard, and the morbid grave site of the young boy who tried to escape via the Box tunnel, only serve to further cast the environment as one in which life is constantly vulnerable. Awaiting the Gladers outside the protective walls is a world run by monsters where they would likely die violent deaths. The fear of painful and unpleasant deaths, rather than the fear of simply being dead, serves to control the children and limit the chances they are willing to take. Apocalypse / Environmental Collapse Though none of the Gladers can remember what happened to them before entering the Glade, clues suggest that a cataclysmic event took place in the recent path. As a result these children have been rounded up for participation in a cruel social experiment to test their will and perseverance, as well as their intelligence and ability to think and act under extreme pressure. While it is not clearly expressed what exactly took place in the past, the Gladers suspect that the world as we know it no longer exists. As more of them go through the Changing and remember their past lives, this suspicion is confirmed. Alby is so repulsed by his Page 7 of 12 memory of the real world that he has no desire to leave the Glade. When the Gladers do eventually emerge from the Maze, they see the effects of the Flare and the ravaged landscape. This setting, common in science fiction and fantasy, presents a world without order in which conventional ways of life have been all but eradicated. Humanity is reduced a struggle to survive. It functions as a sort of "re‐setting" of society and civilization. Civilization vs. Savagery The Gladers' treatment of Ben and his sentencing and punishment bring about feelings of intense guilt in Thomas and highlight the savage rule of law that governs the Glade. Thomas does not feel that it is ethical or humane, and that it reflects the mindset of a culture bent on survival by any means necessary. This savagery is also expressed by the Creators themselves. They have chosen to subject orphans to a horrific experiment, though they believe their intentions to be good. Dashner presents a world in which catastrophic events have driven human beings to resort to their most base and savage instincts. The Creators believe in their efforts despite the obvious toll. Order vs Chaos The Gladers rely on order, one of their primary rules, to maintain their way of life. Order gives their lives in the Glade regularity, hope, and purpose. Without it, the crushing reality of their situation would give way to despair and they would give up or turn on each other. Order allows them to maintain a community instead of fighting against one other. The Maze is chaotic. It changes every night, making it nearly impossible to map and solve. In the Maze there is no mercy and normal rules do no apply. The Grievers have no set of ethics and extreme caution must be employed at all times. Unlike the Glade, it is not a safe place. The Glade is set in stark contrast to the Maze as a place where some form of civilization still exists ‐ perhaps moreso than in the real world. Bravery At numerous times in the novel, Thomas must call on his own will and fortitude to overcome a frightening situation. When he sees Minho and Alby struggling to return to Page 8 of 12 the Glade before the Wall closes, he rushes out to help them. After that, it is his quick thinking and unwillingness to give up that saves his own life as well as Alby's. These actions also invite prosecution from the Keepers, who feel Thomas has broken the law and must face punishment. Thomas's greatest threat to the order of the Glade is that he questions many of the assumptions on which the Gladers have based their lives. His willingness to face questioning and persecution also requires bravery. Without the will to take risks, no progress is possible. This bravery eventually allows Thomas to show the Gladers a way out of the Maze and on to the next stage of the experiment. Synopsis Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) wakes up in an ascending elevator. With him are supply containers marked WCKD. When the elevator reaches the top, a door above him opens and he's surrounded by a Lord of the Flies type gaggle of young men/boys. Thomas takes off running, but stops when he realizes he's in a small glade surrounded by huge walls. Gally (Will Poulter) subdues Thomas and keeps him from trying to run into a maze which is accessible through a door in the wall. The leader of the group, Alby (Ami Ameen), and his consigliere Newt (Thomas BrodieSangster) explain the situation to Thomas. Once a month the elevator (or the box as they call it), comes to the surface with supplies as well as a new boy. They all live in the glade and call themselves Gladers. None of them can remember anything about their pasts or why they were sent there, but after a few days their names come back to them. Each boy is given a different job. Some are builders, some are runners. A door opens in the giant wall every day and closes every night. The door leads to a maze that surrounds the glade. Runners go through looking for a way out. "If you're trapped in the maze over night, the Grievers get you and you die". The maze changes every night. Alby was the first boy to arrive in the Glade. No one knows why they're there. Thomas starts to form a friendship with the kid who came up the month before him. He's one of the youngest of the group. His name is Chuck (Blake Cooper). Page 9 of 12 That night there's a celebration for Thomas. Gally is wrestling one of the other boys and asks if Thomas wants to have a go. They end up sparring and when Thomas hits his head on the ground, he remembers his name. That night Thomas has a dream. It's full of fleeting images, but a woman (Patricia Clarkson) says, "Wicked is good." Alby takes Thomas around to show him more of the sites. The boys carve their names on the wall when they arrive. When one dies, they cross off the name. Thomas tries to fit in and he's given the task to go dig up fertilizer from out in the woods. While he's there, he's attacked by Ben (Chris Sheffield) one of the Runners who was stung by a Griever. While they fight, the other boy says, "This is all your fault. I saw you. That boy has what they call The Changing. A sting will apparently cause tremendous pain and make you prone to violence. There's no cure for it, so they force the boy into the maze at night just as the doors are closing." Everyone is concerned that there was a Griever attack during the day. That night Thomas has another dream. It's more of the lady assuring him that Wicked is good, but now he also remembers himself and a girl about the same age sitting across from each other at work stations going over diagnostics. The next day, Alby goes into the maze to retrace Ben's path and find out what happens. It rains during the day. Now it's getting late and Alby still hasn't returned. All the boys gather around the entrance to the maze. Just as the doors are about to close, the lead Runner named Minho (Ki Hong Lee) appears with a very injured Alby. Thomas rushes into the maze to help them, but the door closes behind him. Minho and Thomas use vines to suspend Alby's body and try to keep it safe from the Grievers. Alby was stung while inside the maze. One of the Grievers appears and chases after Thomas. The Grievers looks like gigantic bedbugs with robot legs and scorpion tails. Thomas and the Griever run around a bit as the walls in the maze change. Finally Thomas is able to lure the Griever between two walls that are colliding and SQUISH! Dead Griever. The next day Gally calls for a meeting of the Gladers. Most are excited that Thomas killed a Griever. There's another group though, lead by Gally who feel that the rules they have were put in place to keep everyone safe and ever since Thomas arrived things have changed like Grievers attacking during the day. And, speaking of things changing, the elevator arrives. Page 10 of 12 The boys run out to check what the elevator brought. Inside are no supplies, only a young girl (Kaya Scodelario). She looks up and says, "Thomas...", before passing out. In her hand is a note that reads: 'She's the last one ever.' Gally calls for Thomas to be punished because non Runners are allowed in the maze. He doesn't like the fact that the girl knew who Thomas was. He's scared that the elevator hasn't gone back down since they took out the girl. Newt says Thomas can be locked up overnight without any food and starting tomorrow, he's a Runner. Gally is mad at his leniency. A bunch of the boys go back into the maze, which further upsets Gally, to look at the carcass of the Griever. Inside it they find a weird device that has an electronic display reading the number 7. The device also is marked WCKD. The boys realize whoever sends them supplies also made the Grievers. Minho shows Thomas a map of the maze. There are different outer sections that open each day as the maze changes. Each outer section is numbered. Last night, section 7 was open. The girl is awake. She's at the top of a tower throwing stuff at the boys on the ground. Thomas yells up to her that it's him. She agrees to let him come up. He explains that her memory was wiped, but in a few days she'll remember her name. She says she already remembers her name. It's Teresa. She remembers Thomas too. He tells her that he's had dreams about her and a lady saying that "Wicked is good." When Teresa woke up she found two syringes in her pocket too. That night, Thomas deals with his punishment of being locked up. Chuck visits him and brings him some food. He also asks Thomas to give his parents a little carved statue Chuck made. Even though he doesn't remember his parents, he's sure his parents remember him and miss him. Thomas gives back the statue and tells Chuck that he'll be able to give that to his parents himself. The next morning Thomas and Minho go into the maze along with the device they got from the Griever. The device ends up making clicking noises and guides them to a new section Minho has never seen before. Minho is also concerned that all of the outer sections of the maze seem to be open. They get to a wide area marked WCKD Loading Dock that ends up in a dead end, but the device turns from red to green and opens a new path. That path leads to what looks like some sort of sewer tunnel. The edges of the tunnel have the same slime that the Grievers secrete, so they go back to the Glade. Page 11 of 12 Thomas decides to use one of the syringes on the still changing Alby. It ends up making him better. When he comes to he tells Thomas, "You were their favorite." But we don't find out what he means because outside doors all over the maze begin to open and out pour bunches and bunches of Grievers. There's a giant Griever attack that wipes out a bunch of the boys and destroys much of their village. Alby is among the dead. Chuck is saved after getting grabbed by one of the Grievers. They end up hacking off its tail. After the attack, Thomas realizes that the venom from the Griever stings helps the victim remember. So he takes the hacked off tail and stings himself. He remembers a little bit more. In Thomas' memory, the maze isn't a prison, it's a test. He sees all of the other boys in incubation tubes. A lot of them are in a panic. He also sees himself as a scientist along with Teresa. The Gladers use the second syringe and Thomas is cured and confesses to everyone that he's one of the people responsible for everyone being there. Gally is furious; he and his group tie Thomas and Teresa to stakes outside the entrance to the maze as an offering. But half the group is still with Thomas so they free them. Now the Gladers are divided. Thomas tells Gally that he'd rather die trying to escape than die in the Glade not trying. Thomas takes a group into the maze. They get to the Loading Dock area from before and are attacked by a bunch of Grievers again. They go through the sewer tunnel type area and it leads to a locked door. Teresa needs a numerical code to get through. They realize the code must be the sequence in which the maze would normally open. She types it in and everyone goes through a door. Walls crush all the Grievers behind them. The kids walk through some hallways until they find a door marked exit. (It's seriously a regular old exit door like you'd find in any office building). They go through and now they're inside the lab from Thomas dreams and memories. All the scientists are dead. A video starts to play. The woman from earlier identifies herself as Ava Paige and tells the kids that they don't remember this but there was global devastation by something called the Flare. She was part of a controversial group called The World Catastrophe Killzone Department (WCKD), that believed that in testing the kids they could monitor their brains and find a cure. While she speaks, behind her guerilla soldiers rush in and Page 12 of 12 start killing other scientists. She tells them she's glad they passed the first test and reminds them that Wicked is good. Before signing off, Paige shoots herself in the head. A door opens leading outside. Before anyone can leave, Gally shows up. He has a gun. He says that they all belong in the Glade. He goes to shoot Thomas, but Chuck jumps in front of the bullet. Gally gets stabbed in the chest with a knife. Chuck hands the, now bloody, statue to Thomas and dies. A group, who looks like the guerrillas from the video, rushes in and takes the kids outside to waiting helicopters. At first it looks like they're in the desert, but we pull out to reveal that they're outside what used to be a city. Buildings are destroyed and everything is covered in sand. They fly over the maze and the Glade and no one asks why the helicopters just didn't land inside the Glade and rescue the kids there instead. In the final shot, it is shown that Paige is alive and wiping fake blood off her head. She says that the kids have taken the bait. More kids survived than she anticipated. The Maze was a success, and now "phase 2" can begin as the helicopter flies away to the city of ruins. I would like to thank my good friend and colleague, Mr. Mohsen Abolhassani for his generous contribution. (R.vahdani)