Review of The 5th Wave (2016) by Aoife S — 19 Mar 2016

The 5th Wave (2016) is another Young Adult (YA) sci-fi/fantasy film franchise with a 'virginal' female lead trying to protect a younger sibling, coming into her own as a strong woman, yet conflicted about a hopeless, even forbidden love; in this case, another love triangle including two 'hunks' (one clearly more so than the other, see The Hunger Games).

Add one part Twilight, one part The Hunger Games, and one part Divergent and you get The 5th Wave. There have been so many of these YA adult franchises, starting with the undeniable high of the Harry Potter series and quickly followed by the undeniable low of the Twilight series, that it is getting difficult to separate them from one another.

Having said that, I had high hopes for The 5th Wave given its lead (Chloë Grace Moretz) and its trailers. To a certain extent, these hopes should have only risen with the eye-opening turn of Maika Monroe as a Goth resistance fighter in this film.

There was potential here for something really interesting. The first half hour of The 5th Wave is absolutely brutal as dystopian futures go with more corpses on screen than probably during the entire run of the Harry Potter, Divergent, The Hunger Games, and Twilight film franchises COMBINED.

The 5th Wave also has the courage to open with its female lead killing someone within the first five minutes. The real problem with this film is the concept of "the fifth wave" itself within the narrative makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Add some Ender's Game elements here including the old switcheroo (Soyent Green is people!) that is only shocking in the utter depth of its stupidity. For this plan alone, The Others deserve to fail.

In the end, The 5th Wave's lack of originality will only disappoint. Mark's Grade: C.