At a time when every beloved YA novel is adapted into a movie, it’s hard for an adaptation to stand out. The Maze Runner has overcome that problem, dashing ahead of the competition. Like the rest of America over opening weekend,  I found myself unable to look away from the screen.

In the opening scenes of the movie, a teen boy (Dylan O’Brien) awakes in an elevator that delivers him to The Glade, a lush field enclosed by massive stone walls. He remembers nothing save that his name is Thomas. He meets Alby (Aml Ameen), Newt (Thomas Sangster) and Minho (Ki-Hong Li) in The Glade, a community of boys all similarly wiped of all memories. A new boy arrives each month with supplies. The walls protect the community from a maze which changes every night when the walls close. The fastest members of the camp run inside the maze every day, looking for a way out. Grievers, beasts that sting and then rip runners apart, live in the maze. Soon, a girl named Theresa (Kaya Scodelario) arrives with a note that she is the last one ever to arrive.

O’Brien is a perfect Thomas, giving a performance unlike other teen heroes in that he is terrified more than he is stoic. Where others are vacant (I’m looking at you, Katniss), O’Brien plays a very convincing and likeable Thomas. Sangster makes me appreciate Newt way more than I did in the books, with other amazing performances by Li and Ameen. Scodelario also delivers a spot-on Theresa. The casting reached perfection.

There’s something so refreshing about Maze Runner. The characters don’t have to be fleshed out or even have detailed backstories – the defining characteristic of everyone is the lack of any memories from previous lives. The striking reveal at the very beginning of the movie tells you everything you need to know.

Another part of it is that the plot doesn’t follow the normal formula (dystopian society, beginnings of a revolution, fearless teen hero with special powers) to a tee, instead opting for a civilization without faint traces of dystopia; the immediate reveal of the walls around the camp expresses the situation without needing any words. The movie doesn’t force itself to reveal its information through dialogue. The audience figures out bits and pieces along with every other character in all of their wacky glory. The obvious question (Why are they in the maze?) isn’t as important as other questions (What does a Griever look like? Why does a boy who’s been stung by a Griever recognize Thomas? How does Theresa know Thomas’s name?) until the very end.

The movie is clunky with cuts and information reveals, especially during the end sequence, where critical information is delivered through a video. Some of the action sequences are a bit off, especially in one scene with Grievers.

These mistakes are forgivable, however, because of the enormity of what was created. Instead of relying on spectacle and big-budget sequences, Maze Runner builds a world and incredibly real characters using tight dialogue and reveals. A teen movie hasn’t been successful in doing that effectively since The Hunger Games.

When looking at the adaptation as a whole, the problems don’t detract from the experience. If you start any teen film trilogy, make it this one. The Maze Runner is a promising movie.