Die 5. Welle

How many of these young adult fiction books are there? Over the past few years we've had a plethora of books made into movies like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Divergent and Twilight along with their sequels. As long as they make money at the box office, Hollywood shall continue to make them. Another adaptation in the long line of young adult fiction is The 5th Wave which starts off promisingly but then becomes another generic teenage film with a romance subplot and unconvincing action scenes.

Cassie Sullivan (Chloe Grace Moretz) is just a normal teenage girl living happily in Ohio with her father (Ron Livingston), mother (Maggie Siff) and brother, Sam (Zackary Arthur). Their lives change when aliens invade Earth. The aliens inflict wave after wave of attack: the 1st wave refers to electromagnetic pulses being disabled resulting in a loss of communication and transportation; the 2nd wave is a flurry of natural disasters; the 3rd wave is an airborne deadly virus transmitted by birds; the 4th wave is the alien species inhabiting humans like parasites; the 5th wave is alien domination. The adults are separated from the children and the US army led by Colonel Vosch (Liev Schreiber) is taking control of the situation, placing children in quarantine so they can assist in fighting the alien species. Cassie finds herself isolated from her peers and must fight her own battles.

The plot is tense and exciting but that's just for the first half an hour. Once the children have been separated from the adults, things become a bit stale. It doesn't help when there's sizable plot holes throughout the movie. The story then drifts off into a romantic subplot which was just as boring as the Twilight series. When the children are trained to fight the aliens, there's a sense that all excitement has dissipated. If the focus was on Cassie fighting her own battles and trying to find her brother then it would have made for a more exciting movie.

The director is J Blakeson and this is his second directorial effort after The Disappearance of Alice Creed in 2009. It might be another seven years until he is employed again for he has some learning to do. Some of those close-up shots of the actors with their foreheads not in the frame were annoying and several of the fight scenes were difficult to see as they were filmed in natural lighting at night!

Chloe Grace Moretz is developing into a terrific actress if she hasn't reached that level already. She is convincing as the teenager who must make her own decisions when her family is no longer around to support her. The two actors who play her love interests, Nick Robinson and Alex Roe, are both devilishly handsome but their roles could be played by any young, unknown Hollywood heartthrob. Liev Schreiber adds integrity to the production and can always be relied upon to hold the fort in the acting stakes.

There are quite a few clever ideas in this film but the execution could have been much better. If you're a fan of young adult fiction, you won't be too disappointed but for people who have seen many movies, there's nothing new which will cause you to leap for joy. The story sticks pretty much to the generic formula and doesn't reach any great heights. http://mlaimlai2.wix.com/magical-movie-review

For the first time i am writing a review for a movie. If you are not under 15 years old you should stay away from this movie because its just a really bad movie with some visual effects. The movie was looking good at first 10 minutes but after that everything in the movie started to seems stupid. Ending scene was the worst part of it. Scenario and most of the scenes in the movie is just disaster.

The 5th Wave (2016) is a movie I was obsessed with while I was at college and I would constantly rewatch it so many times that I have lost track of how many times I've watched it and I cover it. Now as an adult, this is one of those movies where you start to notice all of the major problems with it and yet I still find myself having some dumb fun.

Positives for The 5th Wave (2016): This is one of those movies that would be viewed as delicious garbage. There is so much wrong with the movie and yet I can still have fun watching and laughing at the stupidity on screen. The movie has a surprisingly stacked cast including Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Alex Roe, Maria Bello, Maika Monroe, Zackary Arthur, Liev Schreiber, Tony Revolori, Talitha Bateman and Nadji Jeter. They all do a fine job with what they have to work with. There is a decent shootout during one scene that was mildy entertaining. The movie has a good pace and I wasn't even bored for one second throughout the entire movie. And finally, this is the type of movie you need to turn your brain off so that you can enjoy it.

Negatives for The 5th Wave (2016): This movie is desperately trying to become a major young adult franchise and yet it feels like a young adult movie that I have seen many times before. I find it hilarious that everyone in the young cast looks clean and well groomed despite this movie taking place during an apocalypse. The movie tries to make Maika Monroe look like a badass and it just doesn't work and it's not that she can't play a badass, but Sony Pictures was trying way too hard. The CGI looks hilariously bad with the waves and the explosion at the end. The plot twist regarding the aliens is so painfully obvious that it is hilarious to watch. And finally, the movie ends on a note that tries to set up a possible franchise except Sony Pictures failed and it blew up in their faces.

Overall, The 5th Wave (2016) is a movies that I used to love, but t have to admit that it sucks and yet I would still have fun watching the movie.

The reason to watch this is for Cassie's performance. The reason not to watch it is the rest of the movie. It starts promising. An alien ship orbiting and people wondering what is all that about. A massive EMP wipes out all electrical connections (Wave 1). A flood (Wave 2). Bird Flu (Wave 3). The aliens are depopulating the planet. The few survivors who were immune to the bird flu gather and the military shows up to take them to a military base. Through luck, Cassie misses getting on the bus. By then it becomes very predictable. Cassie still intends to reunite with her brother, who was on the bus, and that is the rest of the story.

Rating it a 7 because it totally kept my attention. However, this could have been a 9. The first 30 minutes are really good. They really should have kept down that serious adult track. Unfortunately it became a teen movie. It's like running a marathon and gassing out after mile 8. They should have kept it adult level, but rather it got a little cheesy making it a kid-level PG-ish feel. All that being said, there was still enough to keep my attention to finish up and I didn't regret my 2-hour investment.