The Maze Runner Discussion & Poll - CLOSED

[nube 147]

The Maze Runner (7.1 DTS-HD MA)

 

Level        - 4 Stars (110.9dB composite)
Extension - 3 Stars (18Hz)
Dynamics - 5 Stars (27.79dB)

Execution - 4 Stars (by poll)

 

Overall     - 4.25 Stars

Recommendation - Buy (by poll)

 

Notes:  The Hunger Games in a Mutha Fuckin' Maze, aka Lord of the Flies in a Maze.  It's actually not the worst movie ever.  Plus, the content is there, just rolled off.  Fairly good use of surrounds.  Overall, right in between rent & buy for me.

 

PvA:

 

[wth718 9]

I actually liked this movie a lot. 4 and buy for me.

[MemX 100]

Looks like a good candidate for some BEQ

[maxmercy 422]

Good to see you back, nube!

 

JSS

[maxmercy 422]

Looks like a good candidate for some BEQ

 

Possibly.  I tend to only BEQ films that will get watched more than once.  I'll try to check this one out soon.

 

JSS 

[nube 147]

It's actually a decent movie.  I gave it 4 stars and buy.  I don't know if it has any replay value, but the surround sound is fairly aggressive and fun.  I know there were multiple times where I thought sounds were coming from outside when they were really just from the surrounds.

 

I'd say it'll probably be cheap soon, and worth BEQ if it's easy.  The slope is consistent and predictable, aside from that one effect that accounts for the <10Hz plateau.  That thing will be a MONSTER in a BEQ config.

[maxmercy 422]

I'll rent it and give it a watch.

 

JSS

[Bassment 0]

I'm surprised there's so many 4's.  This was one of the best sound mixes I've ever heard in a movie.  The bass is so well done, it fits whats happening on screen perfectly

[bmoney 26]

While I agree it's avery very good sound mix with nice bass it doesn't even come close to true 5 star bass movies

[BeastAudio 112]

Same reason I went 4. If the vote was for best overall sound mix, including surround channels and effect, I would easily give it a 5 as one of the best I have heard this year. Fantastically and superbly done if you have a solid 7.x system. 

[Audiofan1 3]

Good bass pressure on this one along with good tactile sensations! I loved the way the mix placed the bass all around the room, nice indeed!

[Reefdvr27 4]

Great movie and a solid 4. I would go as far to say it is a 4.5! I was really impressed with the soundtrack, I really liked this one. This movie hits pretty hard right out of the gate!!. I have to say I was surprised at how much I liked it. The end of the movie suggest that there will be a sequel, I will be looking forward to it, I hope it is just as good. Defiantly a 4 and buy from me. 

[BeastAudio 112]

Great movie and a solid 4. I would go as far to say it is a 4.5! I was really impressed with the soundtrack, I really liked this one. This movie hits pretty hard right out of the gate!!. I have to say I was surprised at how much I liked it. The end of the movie suggest that there will be a sequel, I will be looking forward to it, I hope it is just as good. Defiantly a 4 and buy from me. 

 

The movie is based on the series of three books. They could do the same thing as Hunger Games did and end up making 4 movies out of it, but the sequel comes out this fall I do believe. 

 

[MemX 100]

Do we place our bets now that the sequel will have a 20Hz filter, going from what happens with most recent series of films? lol

[BeastAudio 112]

I would hope not, seeing that the director seemed very dedicated to ensuring the author of the series' interests are met. I watched all the extras from the movie and it was really cool how they came together on so many things, along with the lack of egos getting in the way. The director even asked the author to make a list of things that the "Dedicated Fans" would get upset about if he altered. It was truly a good watch for anyone that owns the disc. The short animation done by the director is on there too and it is pretty cool. I have been really trying to watch all the extras lately after I watch a movie. It gives you a depth into the storyline that you otherwise wouldn't be able to achieve by just watching the movie itself. 

[Reefdvr27 4]

The movie is based on the series of three books. They could do the same thing as Hunger Games did and end up making 4 movies out of it, but the sequel comes out this fall I do believe. 

 

Thanks for the pics. 

 

Oddly enough I bought this movie on a whim figuring that my daughter might like it as she has always been into Harry Potter and the Hunger Games and I was thinking this movie fell into that category. When I got home with the movie and told her what I got,  she said that she already read all three books and seen the movie. I should have known!! 

[SME 326]

Interesting I didn't like the bass as much as I thought I would.  It's too late for my vote to be counted, but I have it a 3, which would have been a 3.5 if such were possible.  I would have liked more effects to go below 30-40 Hz, but most of the effects seemed mid-bass centric.  I actually thought the bass was weak, relative to the rest of the sound design, although still better than average.

 

As for the overall mix, I thought it was fairly good.  I had trouble following the dialog early-on, especially after having been blasted with loud effects early on.  I think the mix would have benefited from more headroom.  I'm noticing this with many Atmos/Auro mix-downs.  Atmos allows effects to emerge from a lot of different speakers, and when they try to squish down such a mix to 7.1 channels but with the same monitoring level as a non-Atmos mix, they typically have to resort to some aggressive compression.  I guess that's a lot better than clipping, which I heard only hints of closer to the beginning, but in a lot of the louder scenes the sound seemed to lose a bit of intelligibility.

 

Apart from that issue, this (presumed) Atmos mix-down sounded amazing as far as spatial effects and panning were concerned.  I only run 5.1 channels, but I heard no shortage of sounds emerge from all different directions in the hemisphere.  My wife had the same experience, despite sitting outside the sweet spot.  This goes to show that while the Atmos "for the home" technology may be way over-hyped, the Atmos authoring tools have made a big impact on the quality of spatial effects in mixes.  This movie may have made the best use of these tools I've yet to hear.

 

I also liked the efforts made to simulate the acoustics of different environments.  Even the scenes inside the boys' huts had a distinct acoustic signature.  The echos inside the maze were disturbingly realistic, particularly the scene with all the shards (for lack of a better description) that created a cacophony echos from random directions.

 

Overall, I'd give the mix 4 stars and 3.5 stars for the bass, which rounds down to 3 stars for bass execution.

[Infrasonic 189]

Can someone run a SL graph for me on this one?

 

The part at the very end where the

main character is being pulled away from Chuck and is taken to the helicopters.

That part had my subwoofer riser moving really good.