The 5th Wave
Directed by: J Blakeson
Written by: Susannah Grant and Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff, Alex Roe, Maria Bello, Maika Monroe, Liev Schreiber, Zackary Arthur, Tony Revolori, Talitha Bateman, Cade Canon Ball, Nadji Jeter
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi - 112 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 21 Jan 2015
Written by: Susannah Grant and Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff, Alex Roe, Maria Bello, Maika Monroe, Liev Schreiber, Zackary Arthur, Tony Revolori, Talitha Bateman, Cade Canon Ball, Nadji Jeter
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi - 112 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 21 Jan 2015
A new year, another teenaged female-driven apocalyptic action thriller based on a young adult trilogy. Rather than fighting the evil, central government or the über-brainy personality faction, our new can-do, plucky high schooler must survive wave after wave of alien attacks while trying to reunite her younger brother with his teddy bear. Race to theaters to watch three screenwriters, one with an Academy Award, adapt dialogue the audience openly mocks, groans, and laughs at. Attempting to cash in on the PG-13 film adaptation of threatened adolescents market, Sony Pictures either picked the wrong books or the wrong filmmakers to take them to the bank. The 5th Wave fails to take itself seriously, disregards the audience’s patience level with shoddy film craft, and arrives bearing all signs of a massive turkey. The 6th wave must be induced vomiting to cleanse oneself of any and all traces of The 5th Wave.
Based on the 2013 first novel of Rick Yancey’s planned trilogy, aliens arrive in a large spacecraft orbiting Earth and methodically decimate the human race. Told to us in flashback voiceover narration by Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz, Clouds of Sils Maria), the aliens set off an electromagnetic pulse knocking out the planet’s power, cars, and airplanes. Next, the aliens cause massive earthquakes unleashing city-leveling tsunamis. More effectively, the aliens then introduce a version of the bird flu which really takes a toll on those who live in flyover country who escaped the wrath of the oceans. Finally, the aliens descend to the surface and take control of some humans to help mop up survivors. The fifth wave of attacks are a plot twist, but one the audience should see an hour earlier if they are still paying attention.
Based on the 2013 first novel of Rick Yancey’s planned trilogy, aliens arrive in a large spacecraft orbiting Earth and methodically decimate the human race. Told to us in flashback voiceover narration by Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz, Clouds of Sils Maria), the aliens set off an electromagnetic pulse knocking out the planet’s power, cars, and airplanes. Next, the aliens cause massive earthquakes unleashing city-leveling tsunamis. More effectively, the aliens then introduce a version of the bird flu which really takes a toll on those who live in flyover country who escaped the wrath of the oceans. Finally, the aliens descend to the surface and take control of some humans to help mop up survivors. The fifth wave of attacks are a plot twist, but one the audience should see an hour earlier if they are still paying attention.
Even after the environmental destruction, societal collapse, and massive epidemic, there are a remarkable number of people still alive wandering around in the woods or in various clusters. The 5th Wave is no I Am Legend or Z for Zachariah where either one or a handful of hearty souls continue to pluck out a meager existence. Cassie’s situation doesn’t even seem that bad as there must be an ample amount of makeup and hair care products left over to elevate one’s hygiene as we monitor Cassie’s appearance. However, director J Blakeson really wants to make his point that families are ripped apart and the survivors can trust nobody.
After one large scale off-screen massacre (remember, this is PG-13), the camera lingers on a teddy bear laying in the dirt as large trucks drive by it covering it with dust. Get it? Innocence is shattered, lives are in turmoil, hope is lost, and the teddy bear symbolizes the whole catastrophe. The bear actually belongs to Sam (Zackary Arthur), Cassie’s little brother. Cassie and Sam are separated and she makes it her mission to walk a few dozen miles across Ohio to undraft Sam from the new children’s militia at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I want to point out that while every character keeps referring to the Army at the base, every adult is wearing a Marine uniform.
Organizing the children in basic combat tactics and steeling their nerves to get ready to shoot some humanoid aliens, Liev Schreiber (Spotlight) and an almost unrecognizable Maria Bello (McFarland, USA) play the base commanders. Schreiber delivers a Pattonesque motivational speech before the first big battle and Bello plays around with some psychological mind-fuck games all the while showing off her American Gladiator haircut. Meanwhile, Cassie runs into trouble and is rescued by Evan (Alex Roe). There must be some physical attraction brewing between Cassie and Evan. How do we know this? Well, Evan chops firewood outside Cassie’s window and Cassie accidentally runs into a half-naked Evan while he bathes in a lake, all tell-tale signs the young duo are going to start experimenting with each other.
Pay attention to the credits and you’ll notice Tobey Maguire is one of the producers as his production company, Material, is the muscle behind development. Material also produced Z for Zachariah, a remarkably similar premise of surviving after catastrophe but also operating leagues above this teenaged alien-fighting romance. There are also shades of War of the Worlds, San Andreas, and Ender’s Game. My point is, there is nothing in The 5th Wave you have never seen before with a possible exception of the outrageously horrible dialogue.
Akiva Goldsman won an Oscar writing A Beautiful Mind and Susannah Grant was nominated for Erin Brockovich. Here, they had the audience in my theater groaning out loud and laughing during scenes, particularly between Cassie and Evan as he attempts to explain his backstory and feelings. I am not the biggest fan of The Hunger Games and Divergent franchises, the entire reason The 5th Wave even exists, but neither of them were this over-the-top cheesy. Well, Insurgent, the latest Divergent installment was quite awful, but at least nobody outright shook their heads in derision. Sony obviously would like to make a couple more Wave films to complete the story and pad their bank accounts, but fingers crossed word spreads to avoid this film like the latest variation of the avian flu.
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