For a first-time feature director, Wes Ball punched well above his weight. With a relatively modest budget of $34 million, the visual effects—specifically the scale of the Maze and the terrifying design of the Grievers—looked better than many blockbusters with triple the funding. The sound design, featuring the deep, mechanical grinding of the walls closing, became an iconic part of the film’s atmosphere. The Legacy of the Gladers

: The chemistry between the "Gladers" is the film's heartbeat. You have Dylan O'Brien as the curious protagonist, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as the level-headed Newt, and Ki Hong Lee as the badass lead runner, Minho [30]. Visceral Tension

The premise of The Maze Runner relies on an immediate hook. The film opens with Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), a teenager waking up in a moving metal cage with no memory of his past, his name, or how he got there. The cage ascends into "The Glade," a vast, open courtyard surrounded by colossal stone walls.

Wes Ball’s path to The Maze Runner was unconventional. A visual effects artist with a background in animation, Ball's only previous directorial credit was a striking animated short film titled Ruin , which depicted a lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by ruins and nature. The short was so impressive that it landed on the desk of 20th Century Fox executives, who took a chance on the first-time director to helm their $34 million adaptation.