The 5th Wave: The Others Are Among Us
Hello everybody! Sorry for the lax in the “New movie Show” last week, time has been flying by so fast that it is hard to keep up! For this week’s “New Movie Show” we have the newest in apocalyptic young adult films The 5th Wave.
THE 5TH WAVE
DIRECTED BY: J Blakeson
STARRING: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff, Alex Roe, Maria Bello, Maika Monroe, Liev Schreiber
GENRE: Science Fiction, Thriller
YEAR: 2016
COUNTRY: United States
The 5th Wave follows 16-year-old Cassie Sullivan as she tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of alien invasion that have already devastated the Earth’s population and knocked humankind back to the Stone Age. As one of the planet’s last survivors after her father was killed in a massacre by the army, Cassie has to learn the hard way to trust no one. The only thing that keeps Cassie going is the hope that she can save her 5-year-old brother, Sam, from a “training” camp established by the Others (the aliens). Cassie and Ben Parish, who was her crush in school, narrate a good majority of the story, along with several supporting characters who offer different perspectives. The Waves were planned attacks used by the Others in their attempt to take over planet Earth, but the reason for their desire to inhabit the planet is much deeper than that and has a lot to do with humanity itself.
It’s about that time of year that young adult film adaptations begin to flood the market and The 5th Wave is not exempt. I went into The 5th Wave with little to no information except for seeing the trailer once before Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it should definitely be that way. For a rather common film, the setup is interesting and original. While I have not liked her since the original Kick-Ass, Chole Grace Moretz is slowly growing on me as an actress. While her performance was far from stellar, it gave a little more personality to a disappointing character.
Oh teen angst…how fans of the young adult fantasy genre love it. During the film, Cassie meets Ethan, a young man who saves her from being murdered. As soon as he appears, the film slows to a crawl. It dives right into Twilight territory, being the film to do to aliens what Twilight did for vampires. It feels completely unnecessary, as it takes a strong/developing character into a ridiculous damsel in distress. This is even more evident in the end of the film, as Ethan pretty much wraps up the story for her/us. If you are a fan of the genre, I recommend it. Otherwise…
PROS:
- Needs to be seen with no prior knowledge.
- Original set-up.
- Interesting 1st act.
- Chloe Grace Moretz performance.
CONS:
- Teen angst.
- Pacing drops halfway through the film.
- Twilight with Aliens.
- Ethan Walker.
SCORE: 5.0 / 10
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