Maze Runner Reviews: Our Verdict on All Three Films

Our Maze Runner reviews give a verdict on each of the three films, and my short answer is that the first is the best while the sequels exchange its mystery for bigger set pieces. Wes Ball directed all three, and the story follows teenagers who lose their memories and are held inside a lethal puzzle run by an organization they cannot see. Full length reviews will arrive film by film, so the short verdicts in each section stand in the meantime. Everything here is opinion unless it is a date, a rating or a figure. If you are choosing where to begin, the Maze Runner movies in order page sets out the viewing sequence, and the Maze Runner movies ranked page puts all three side by side.

Yes, The Maze Runner 2014 is good, and in my opinion it is the best film in the series. It starts with Thomas rising in a metal lift with only his first name, then drops him into the Glade, a farm ringed by stone walls whose gates open into a maze by day and close at night. The runners who map that maze give the film a daily routine you can follow, which is why the later discoveries land. At 113 minutes it is also the tightest of the three. It cost $34 million to make and took about $348 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. It could be argued that the sequels never matched that clarity of rules.

Maze Runner the Scorch Trials (2015) is a competent but looser film, and the change of genre is the reason. Thomas and the surviving Gladers are taken to a walled facility run by Janson, who says he is protecting them from the Cranks, people ruined by a deadly infection. Thomas grows suspicious, and the group is soon running into the Scorch, a burned desert. That is a chase film rather than a puzzle film. It runs 131 minutes on a $61 million budget and earned about $312 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Perhaps the fairest summary is that it is better at motion than at mystery.

Maze Runner the Death Cure (2018) is the finale, and it is the longest film at 143 minutes. Thomas, Newt and Frypan set out for the Last City, WCKD's guarded home base, to rescue Minho, who is being used in the search for a cure. Teresa now works with WCKD, which gives the plan a human weak point. In my opinion it is a satisfying close to the trilogy at the cost of some pacing. It had a $62 million budget and earned about $288 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. The Maze Runner box office page has the full comparison.

An 11 year old sits just under the marks these films carry, so my advice is to watch the first film yourself before deciding. All three are rated PG-13 in the US. In the UK, The Maze Runner is rated 12 and the two sequels 12A, and in Australia all three are rated M. The later two are darker in setting, and each film is built around a deadly maze, a ruined desert or a hostile city. For streaming options, see the where to watch Maze Runner page.

In my reading, none of the three films builds an LGBTQ storyline into its plot. The stories follow the escape from the maze, the crossing of the Scorch and the assault on the Last City. Individual fans read some of the Maze Runner characters in their own ways, and the films do not contradict that, but they do not state it either.

A new Maze Runner film is in development, but there is no release date. TheWrap reported on 3 May 2024 that 20th Century Studios is developing a reboot described as a continuation of the original trilogy, with Jack Paglen in talks to write it and Wes Ball attached as a producer, not as director. That is all a trade source has confirmed so far, and the new Maze Runner movie page tracks any change. For the full set of films, see Maze Runner movies and how many Maze Runner movies are there.