Amidst the assault of YA adaptations flooding our theaters nowadays, The Maze Runner feels like the abused stepchild of the bunch. There’s no love triangle. No bullshit soul-searching. No overtly hunky guys taking their shirts off in the rain. Hell, the only girl in the film feels tacked on. Based on James Dashner’s* 2009 novel, Wes Ball’s feature debut is a sharply streamlined and ambitious YA adventure that pushes its PG-13 rating to the limit.

The Maze Runner throws you right into its world. There’s no prologue or drab opening narration explaining what the hell is going on. Instead, we’re shoved right into the middle of it along with MTV Teen Wolf star Dylan O’Brien. He plays Thomas, a young man who awakens vomiting as he’s hurled towards the surface in something like a service elevator. He emerges in the Glade, a massive field that resembles a summer survivalist camp for boys, walled-in by an ominous maze. He’s quickly hazed by the other boys, including a brutish Will Poulter (Son of Rambow) and Aml Ameen, the unofficial leader of the camp.

The camaraderie these Lord of the Flies castaways display is typically reserved for prison camp. There’s a grizzly maturity about all the boys that helps elevate The Maze Runner above its YA kin. It even feels more mature than the Hunger Games films, the reigning champ of YA adaptations. These ain’t no slack-jawed tweens in The Maze Runner. These kids have seen some shit.

As Thomas learns the ins and outs of the Glade, the maze entrance torments him. The boys believe the maze is their way out and they’ve been struggling for three years to solve it. Gradually Thomas’ knack for leadership and inherent resourcefulness emerge, causing strife with Poulter, who’s the resident power-hungry bully. Thomas doesn’t get balls deep into the maze until well into the first hour and that’s where the Grievers come in. These giant biomechanical, spider beasts patrol the maze, leaving trails of boogers and blood in their wake. The Grievers are the only real CGI-heavy aspects of the film, which is cool since Wes Ball runs his own effects company. He could’ve easily laid on a thick glaze of CGI. Instead, The Maze Runner has an edgy, more dirty feel – thanks in big part to shooting done in rural Louisiana.

Wisely, the film only reveals just enough as it moves along. We only learn about the maze and its origins as Thomas delves deeper. The maze itself is really bleak and reminded me of those shots of Trent Reznor in the pool in the “Perfect Drug” video. The architecture is blunt, with vines and ivy littering its walls. There’s a few notable sections of it, like the “blades,” but it seems like parts may have been left out from the book that included more exciting sections of the labyrinth (anyone read it who can confirm this?).

The young cast does a knockout job effectively conveying the spectrum of feelings the characters endure – from terrifying confusion and defeat to courageous resolve and betrayal. It’s a truly great ensemble of young actors. As Teresa (the lone girl of the group), Kaya Scodelario is not given much to do at all. However, it is refreshing that none of the boys react romantically towards her, forcing an unnecessary subplot. Instead she’s treated just like one of the boys, but overall feels like a last minute attachment by the studios to avoid an all-male cast. Anyone know if she has a larger role in the book?

Rookie Wes Ball and his Maze Runner are definitely not just Hunger Games biters. It’s a far better film than recent YA outings like Divergent and whatever the hell that Mortal Instruments silliness was about. I thought it was more exciting than both Hunger Games combined. The ending is left extremely open-ended for a sequel, gambling on this film’s financial success. If they do continue the story of Thomas and the loneliness of the long distance Maze Runner, I’ll definitely be checking it out.

* His name is Dashner and he wrote a book about a runner? That’s like a guy named Strummer writing a book about a guitar player.