You might have to cast your mind back a fair way to recall people being crushed to death by walls compressing.
I fondly remember George Reeves’s Superman saving Jimmy and Lois from such a grim fate, so I was tickled to see it make a long-overdue return in this post-apocalypse, teen sci-fi flick.
The story opens with Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) being delivered via an underground lift to ‘the glade’, a large walled compound where young men have been sent, once a month, for the last three years.
Nobody knows how they got there, or why. The captives have managed to eke out a survival by building wicker huts and growing their own food (including tomatoes that appear to be fruiting on grapevines). If they attempt to escape their captivity, they must negotiate a labyrinthine maze that is patrolled by ‘grievers’, giant spiders with limbs of steel.
The scenario is a potpourri of The Hunger Games, Lord Of The Flies and the gamer’s constant challenge to overcome obstacles and succeed at a seemingly impossible task.
Thomas’s antagonist is Gally (Will Poulter), the established alpha-male who argues that the group should stay within the compound, where they are at least safe – it is the age-old conflict of ‘die free or forever live on your knees’, with the individual going against the collective thrown in to sharpen the polemic.
A girl belatedly turns up in their midst (Kaya Scodelario), but, apart from bringing with her a cryptic note, she contributes virtually nothing to the narrative – doubtless bigger things are planned for her in the promised sequel.
The effects are good (though why the enormous metal arachnids couldn’t smash through the tinderbox hall is baffling), the performances convincing and the racial mix of the youngsters refreshingly varied.
It is not nearly so bad as you might imagine – in fact, I quite got into it and will be happy to go along to the next instalment – but, despite that caveat, it is basically not suitable for adults.
~ John Campbell
