Review of The 5th Wave (2016) by Greg B — 28 Jan 2016

"The 5th wave" is yet another addition to the young adult dystopian pantheon. This entry stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a normal high school girl whose life is torn asunder when an alien race named The Others invade Earth and invoke a series of "waves" to slowly kill off our species.

These attacks include cutting off all the power and running water, spreading disease across the planet, and infesting human hosts like invasion of the body snatchers. I thought the premise was interesting but the director can't do much with it.

The execution of this film is sloppy and confusing and the viewer never truly comes to understand what the aliens really are. The film feeds off every apocalyptic thriller cliche and even invokes the idea of child soldiers.

This is a blatant rip-off of Divergent. I caution Hollywood not to over saturate the market with dystopian fiction because the genre is starting to wear out its welcome. I didn't mind Moretz's performance but not much else about the film was good --------------------------------------------------- C.