About Maze Runner
Maze Runner is a dystopian science fiction film about a group of young men trapped in a maze and their struggle to get out alive. On the way they are faced with numerous obstacles like the maze itself rotating it’s routes and genetically engineered monsters. Because of all the running, by the time you’ve finished watching it you’ll feel like you’ve done two hours of cardio. And if there’s one thing we can agree upon, it’s that cardio sucks!
During a recent re-watch of Maze Runner I started to think of other movies like Maze Runner. Below is my picks of non-stop adrenaline fueled dystopian action flicks to add to your bucket list. Let us know on social media which are your favorites.
1. Love and Monsters (2020)
Directed by Michael Matthews, Love and Monsters stars Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing, and Michael Rooker. It was released in the year 2020.
Love and Monsters is a post-apocalyptic film where the world is inhabited by kaiju sized monsters. It’s part science fiction, part action and all heart. It’s about character Joel Dawson who gets separated from his girlfriend Aimee and will do anything he can to be reunited with her. Even if it means getting eaten alive.
2. Ready Player One (2018)
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Ready Player One stars stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. It was released in the year 2018.
Ready Player One focuses on a futuristic world where most of humanity uses a virtual reality simulation called The Oasis. However, it is run by an evil corporation who wants to profiteer from the players. The plot focuses on a teen orphan (played by Tye Sheridan) who discovers clues to a contest which promises the winner total control and ownership of The Oasis.
3. Chaos Walking (2021)
Directed by Doug Liman, Chaos Walking stars Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, and David Oyelowo. It was released in the year 2021.
Chaos Walking follows a young man who lives in a dystopian world without women, where all living creatures can hear each other’s thoughts in streams of images, words and sounds, called “Noise”. Then when a woman crash-lands on the planet, he does everything he can to try and protect her from danger.
4. The Hunger Games (2012)
Directed by Gary Ross, The Hunger Games is a dystopian science fiction action film based on novels of the same name. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2012.
The Hunger Games is set in the future in the nation of Panem, where a boy and a girl from each of the nation’s 12 Districts are chosen annually as “tributes” and are forced to fight to the death in ‘The Hunger Games.’ What follows is a live viewing broadcasted to the entire world as a group of teenagers try to kill each other off – one by one. Much like Maze Runner, It’s brutal, deadly and filled with a lot of heart.
5. The Darkest Minds (2018)
Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, The Darkest Minds is a survival superhero thriller starring Amanda Stenberg, Harris Dickinson, Mandy Moore, Patrick Gibson, Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Bradley Whitford, and Gwendoline Christie. It was released in the year 2018.
The Darkest Minds is set in a world where a contagious kills 90% of children and leaves those who survive it with strange and unusual abilities. The surviving children are then imprison for “their own safety.” This film is about a group of children breaking out of prison and being on the run from the authorities who seek to capture and re-imprison them. If you’re getting X-Men vibes then you’re bang on. This is basically Mutants for Kids.
6. The Host (2013)
Directed by Andrew Niccol, The Host is a science fiction thriller starring Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons, Frances Fisher, Chandler Canterbury, Diane Kruger, and William Hurt. It was released in the year 2013.
The Host is about an alien race of parasites (called “souls”) that has conquered earth by taking human hosts. One human on the run, Melanie, is captured and implanted with an alien “soul” whose plan is to access her memories and learn of the location of the remaining humans without “souls” implanted in them. Eventually, however, the Melanie and her “soul” become friends and it eventually switches sides, beginning to work with the human resistance.
7. World War Z (2013)
Directed by Marc Forster, World War Z is an apocalyptic zombie surivival horror film based on the book of the same name by Max Brooks. It stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, and Matthew Fox. World War Z was released in the year 2013.
The plot focuses on a former United Nations Investigator who’s trying to find a solution and cure to a zombie apocalypse that is sweeping the world and taking down city after city. While most zombie films end with everyone dying, this one ends with the discovery of a pathogen that can disguise humans from the zombies, allowing the surviving characters to escape and fight another day. It’s probably the only movie on this list where there’s more running than Maze Runner itself.
8. The Colony (2013)
Directed by Jeff Renfroe, The Colony is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film starring Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton, Charlotte Sullivan, Dru Viergever, Atticus Mitchell, John Tench, Lisa Berry, Julian Richings, and Laurence Fishburne. It was released in the year 2013.
The Colony is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film focusing a group of survivors who have lived in Colony 7 since the world’s temperature reached extreme temperatures due to non-stop snow. After receiving a distress signal from a nearby colony, a team of Colony 7 survivor go to check it out. When they arrive they encounter a murder scene, a less than forthcoming leader of the colony and a group of bloodthirsty cannibals.
All is not well in Colony 7, it would appear.
9. Extinction (2018)
Directed by Ben Young, Extinction is a science fiction action film starring Michael Peña, Lizzy Caplan, Mike Colter, Amelia Crouch, Erica Tremblay, Israel Broussard, Lex Shrapnel, and Emma Booth. It was released in the year 2018.
Extinction focuses on the character Peter, who is an engineer that lives an relatively uneventful life, and has nightmares of the end of the world. One day these alien looking shock troops descend from the skies and start slaughtering everyone in the streets.
I won’t ruin the ending but suffice to say the “humans” start to fight back until Peter makes a startling discovery about the “aliens” that are slaughtering everyone, his family and his friends. Trust me when I say you won’t see the twist coming.
10. Mortal Engines (2018)
Directed by Christian Rivers, Mortal Engines is a post-apocalyptic steampunk film starring Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, and Stephen Lang. It was released in the year 2018.
Mortal Engines is set more than a thousand years in the future in a post-apocalyptic world where these steampunk-looking gigantic mega cities known as “Predators” are mobile and spend their time looking to attack and consume other cities that are smaller than them for fuel and resources.
The city of London is on a rampage consuming all in its wake and apprentice historian Tom Natsworthy will do whatever he can to ensure no more innocents get hurt. Although, he doesn’t do it very well. Let’s face it – he’s more of an accidental hero!
What did you think of The Maze Runner franchise?
Have you seen any of the other films on this list? Did they measure up with Maze Runner?
Let me know in the comments.
