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The Maze Runner | 2014 | PG-13 | - 1.6.4

A teen boy (Dylan O'Brien) is taken by an elevator to a place called the "Glade" where he is told by several other teen boys and young men that there is no way out. The others have been there for as long as three years and beyond enormous stone walls lies an ever-shifting maze where horrible creatures wait for them. Also with Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Dexter Darden, Kaya Scodelario, Chris Sheffield, Joe Adler, Alexander Flores, Jacob Latimore , Randall D. Cunningham and Patricia Clarkson. Directed by Wes Ball. [1:53]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A bare-chested young man lies tied to a table as he struggles against the spread of an infection (we see his bare chest and abdomen). A young man's shirt is lifted to show his bare abdomen (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - Many "Grievers" (a part mechanical crab-like creature with a huge mouth of teeth) charge into a glade where young men, teen boys and a teen girl are hiding; we hear screaming and see some people being taken away by the "Grievers" that grab them with their long mechanical tails that have a claw on the end; during the struggle we see some people being impaled by long spikes on the legs of the creatures (no blood is evident); a "Griever" is shown in flames after being struck by a Molotov cocktail of sorts and another is stabbed with two spears. A teen boy and a young man hoist an unconscious young man up on a wall of ivy and to safety before a "Griever" approaches them; one young man runs away and the teen boy hides behind the ivy as the "Griever" passes and we hear it growl; the teen boy steps in a puddle of slime, a gob of slime falls on his shoulder and the "Griever" drops down on top of him; he runs, jumps between platforms and over walls (he nearly falls off a ledge), he clings to a wall of ivy and the "Griever" follows trying to stab the teen with its metallic legs before the teen coaxes the "Griever" to follow him as two walls close together (the screen goes black and we see the teen OK later).
 A young man is dragged to the entrance of a maze where he gags and spits blood (he looks very sick); other teen boys and young men holding long sticks force the young man through the walls while he pleads with them and the wall closes; one young man says, "He belongs to the maze now" (he will presumably die inside the maze). A teen girl is tied to a pole at the entrance to a maze and is told that she will be an offering to the "Grievers."
 A teen boy encounters a young man in the woods and he looks sick with gray-tinged skin, blood on his shirt and crazy eyes; the young man charges the teen and slams him to the ground yelling that he will kill him and holds his hands over his throat; the teen grabs a skull off the ground and hits the young man in the head, then runs screaming for help and someone hits the young man over the head and others hold him on the ground. A young man who appears ill from having been stung holds a gun and points it toward several others before another young man throws a spear and hits him in the chest we see the spear sticking out of his chest and he falls to the floor dead; the gun discharges as he is struck and a boy is shown with a bloody wound on his chest (the boy dies). A young man in the throes of an infection lunges toward a teen boy and grabs him threatening to kill him before he is injected with a serum. A teen boy stabs himself in the stomach with a stinger that infects him with something and he falls to the ground (he wakes up fine later).
 Several masked and armed people enter a laboratory facility and shoot several people (we see people thrashing when struck, no blood is evident). We see many dead bodies with bloody wounds and we watch a video that shows a woman holding a gun to her head and we hear the gunshot (we do not see the impact, but see her body on the floor later). We see infected people strapped to tables and thrashing as well as piles of dead bodies on the ground.
 Several young men and teen boys using spears fight a "Griever" on a narrow passage and push it over the side as another "Griever" comes toward them and then another; a boy nearly falls over the side and is pulled up to safety while a teen is grabbed and taken away; the "Grievers" chase the people and are crushed between closing walls (we see goo and slime on the ground).
 A young man carries an unconscious young man toward the exit of a maze as the doors begin to close; another young man runs inside to get to them and the doors close behind him trapping the three inside. A teen boy wakes up gasping for air and gagging while riding in what seems to be a freight elevator; the boy moves toward a grate and an animal on the other side squeals (sounds like a pig). A teen girl is shown unconscious in an elevator and teen boys surround her and say, "She's dead" before she gasps and then falls unconscious again.
 Two teen boys wrestle in a ring surrounded by others who watch and cheer; one throws the other to the ground, one slams the other to the ground and one trips the other causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground (he appears OK). A teen boy shoves another teen boy to the ground and the boy yells. A teen boy pulls another teen boy out of an elevator and throws him to the ground where he is surrounded by other teen boys and young men; the boy gets up and runs toward a huge stone wall and he trips and falls. A teen boy slams into another teen boy accidentally and then invites him to a shoving match. Several people fight briefly and threaten one young man with spears and machetes.
 Several teen boys and young men go into a maze to retrieve pieces of a dead "Griever" and we see it pinched between two stone walls with a lot of goo and tissue hanging out of it; one young man reaches inside the crevasse to pull a blinking device out and the griever flinches causing them all to jump back; the young men and teen boys pull one of its mechanical legs off and find the device inside slime covered skin; one young man pulls the device out and we hear slurping and see a lot of slime. A young man's shirt is lifted to show a large hole in his abdomen with veining spreading from it; we are told that he has been stung and the infection is spreading. A bare-chested young man lies tied to a table as he struggles against the spread of an infection (we see dark veining spreading around his chest and neck). A teen boy and a young man go into a maze and find blood-soaked clothing that implies that another young man has died; they run through the maze carrying a device that whistles and crackles; when the walls begin to move and close the two run out and some walls fall and debris falls around them.
 We see a marker and skeletal remains of a human in the woods as a teen boy walks through it. A teen girl barricades herself in a wooden structure and throws things at several young men and teen boys on the ground (we see them being hit in the head and complaining) until one boy climbs to the top and she holds a machete at him before he calms her down. A teen boy is locked in a punishment cage a few times; not usually for very long. A teen boy is sentenced to "one night in the pit with no food."
 Several teen boys and young men gather at the entrance to a maze and hear loud rumbling and a wind blows out from the opening before the opening closes. We hear eerie screeching coming from inside the walls of a maze. Several teen boys and young men make remarks about "Grievers" and that they are some kind of creature that will kill them if they go into a maze on the outskirts of the glade where they are living.
 A teen boy has a few nightmares that show medical personnel moving around him with hypodermic needles, other teens thrashing in a tank of water, medical and computer equipment around a large room. A boy talks about not being able to miss his parents because he doesn't remember them. A teen boy says that he "can't remember anything," and a young man tells him that it is natural. A young man says that "we don't know who put us here." A young man says that one of the rules is to never "harm another glader." A teen boy talks about other teen boys "not having much upstairs." A young man is referred to as "dangerous." We hear that a young man was the first in the glade and that he was there alone for a month. A young man tells a teen boy that "We are already dead" when they are trapped in a maze. A young man confronts a teen boy about wanting to dissect a dead "Griever" and accuses him of having a "death wish." A teen girl says that she remembers "Feeling like she was drowning." A teen boy remembers hearing "wicked is good." A woman says that "The sun has scorched our world" and there is a "deadly virus."
 A teen boy carves his name into a stone wall using a knife and we see some names crossed out (presumably indicating the people died). Several teen boys and young men throw flaming sticks into a pile of sticks and cheer when it erupts in flames. A teen boy with a bucket and a shovel walks through woods to gather fertilizer for a garden.
 A boy makes a remark about soiling his pants three times when he first arrived in the glade. A teen boy offers another teen boy a jar filled with liquid saying that "It'll put hair on your chest" (implied to be alcohol) and the second boy drinks some and spits it out asking what it is. A young man spits and we see the goo.

LANGUAGE 4 - 5 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 11 mild obscenities, name-calling (greenie, green bean, free loaders, crazy, dumb, shank, stupid, newbie), exclamations (shut-up), 1 religious exclamation (Oh My God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A young man is injected with a serum from a glass tube containing blue liquid. A teen boy offers another teen boy a jar filled with liquid that is implied to be alcohol and the second boy drinks some and spits it out asking what it is, and a teen boy is handed a jar and drinks from it after a wrestling match.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Experimentation, epidemics, trust, choices, rules, order, peace, survival, curiosity, stick together, descent, promises.

MESSAGE - Finding order in chaos can create extreme outcomes.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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