The Maze Runner | Film Review

Title: The Maze Runner
Adapted From: The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Genre: Dystopia
Director: Wes Ball
My Star Rating: ★★★★☆

On Friday night I went to an advanced screening of The Maze Runner. The general UK release is not until the 10th of September. 
As a film by its self it would have been amazing, compared to the book however, it could have been better. Lots of things happened in a different order, details about the world were changed and characters died in the wrong way. 
Let's talk about casting choices first. I loved Dylan O'Brien as Thomas, but then again I love Dylan O'Brien in general. From his time playing Stiles he has evidently perfected the "panicked" look. My favourite actor in this film was Thomas Sangster as Newt (otherwise known as fit guy from Game of Thrones). I loved that Newt kept his British accent as fake American ones are unbearable *cough* Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower *cough*. He was funny and even when crying he was inhumanly good looking.
I liked the film's pacing, sometimes when a story is condensed into a short amount of time it can seem rushed and in some ways an insult to the book when so much is left out or glossed over as if it is unimportant. I didn't feel like The Maze Runner had this problem.
I good test to see if a film is any good is "did I cry when someone died?" and I did. The key to an effective death scene is not the death its self but another characters reaction or way of dealing with that death and they did this perfectly. 
I loved the set, it was a lot prettier than I imagined. The fields, the gardens and the shelters they slept in all looked great and nothing looked out of place. You could believe that these people had built this for themselves in the time they had been here. I did have one problem with the maze, a lot of the time the walls weren't very high and it didn't seem like much of a maze.
I didn't like the grievers, they were supposed to be giants slugs with spikes but instead they were mechanical spiders with what (at first glance) looked like a human head.
Although most of my friends were disappointed with this film I thought it was really good. Maybe this is because analysing book to film adaptations is a hobby of mine and I realise why this changes have to be made during the adaptation process. I hope it did well in box office and that they make the sequel and if they do I can't wait to see more of this world on the big screen.
Love Always,
Freya