Review of Mazes and Monsters (1982) by Chris S — 13 Feb 2006

[font=Courier New]Often my curiosity gets the best of me, and I make some really poor choices. This past weekend while rummaging through a bargain bin I stumbled on [i]Mazes and Monsters[/i]. It wasn?t that interesting until I noticed that none other than Tom Hanks? face was plastered on the DVD cover. Tom Hanks in a movie I?ve never heard of, how can this be? So I decided on buying it. I wish I didn?t.

The movie is about four college friends who get together to play a role-playing game called Mazes and Monsters. Basically it is Dungeons and Dragons? see how similar the titles are? Well, Tom Hanks plays Robbie, who recently gave up playing the game. But once he starts up again with his new group of friends, he seems to lose all grip with reality.

I will admit that this movie does have good intentions. I understand what the film is trying to get at, but I feel it could have been handled much better. A movie that is suppose to show the dark side of playing games comes off more as a laughable waste of time.

I?m pretty sure why I haven?t heard of this movie before. It isn?t a good movie at all, and offers no real insight into the darker corners of the minds of gamers. The movie did have some nice moments of suspense, such as when Robbie is getting mugged and sees the assailant as some sort of dragon monster. But none of really seems to come together in the end, which is ultimately a depressing ending.

So I lost a couple of bucks on this movie, and it will remain in my collection from here on in. If you happen to stumble on this film, put it back and walk away. I wouldn?t even recommend this movie to die-hard Hanks fans. A lot of good ideas put together extremely foolishly, that is [i]Mazes and Monsters[/i] in its entirety. [/font].