Review of The 5th Wave (2016) by Bttrmovies — 02 Feb 2016

When I saw the cast list for 5th Wave, I'll admit that I got kind of excited. I'm a fan of Chloe Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, and Liev Schreiber and was looking forward to seeing them work together in a film - even if it seems to be a set up for a typical teen dystopian film. The movie even starts off with a bang, setting up a bleak look at the fall of humanity through a teenager's eyes. And as it unfolded, I remained hopeful that this movie was on the right track. And then we meet Evan. It's not his wooden acting that throws the movie off (it kind of does) nor his overly mysterious backstory (again, it kind of does). What he presents that ruins the movie is the typical teen love triangle/story of a taboo love that trumps the enemy no matter what.

The movie sort of devolves into an awkward alien love story complete with bad sexual tension and a second love interest. The best part of this movie that survives is Nick Robinson and Maika Monroe, however. These two have a subplot about the army training a group of children to fight the alien invasion. I can say with no hesitation that it should have been the main plot of the film and had my attention whenever it was on the screen. The chemistry between Robinson and Monroe works surprisingly well and made me wish for more screen time for the pair.

Another plus for the movie is the character development of Liev Schreiber, who plays the general of the army and the leader of the resistance. At first he seems wasted as a generic army grunt but he soon evolves past that and we enjoy a very good scene between him and Nick Robinson's character that was maybe the scene of the film for me. It is an understated scene that changes the direction of the story being told and does so effectively.

Overall, 5th Wave fails to be anything more than a generic teen sci fi movie. It becomes Twilight with Aliens and even then fails to be that entertaining. It wastes a decent set up and beginning, as well as an effective subplot involving the army (which in some ways gives off a Full Metal Jacket with kids feeling). It also wastes a good cast that try their hardest to make the story and script work but in most ways ultimately fail. I really wanted this movie to be good and gave it the benefit of the doubt (the doubt being a teen sci fi movie released in January - not a good sign). But in the end, it became almost a parody of itself and settled for some half brained Terminator 2 style ending, complete with a lame but hopeful voice over by Ms. Moretz.