La 5e Vague

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.

Saw 'The 5th Wave' because the concept was a good one, there was interest in how survival, alien invasion and teenage romance would work together and because there is talent in the cast. Was determined not to let my apprehension, as to whether 'The 5th Wave' would execute its good concept well (having seen so many potential wastes recently), get the better of me.

It is a shame that after genuinely wanting to like it, not with the intention to hate it or want to, that 'The 5th Wave' was yet another potential waste, executing its good idea very ordinarily. Not one of the worst cases but one of the most infuriating ones, not irredeemably awful but the cons outweigh the pros and the cons are hardly big in size. It is not that it didn't try, to me it tried too hard, executing its elements underwhelmingly and they just don't go together.

There are a few good things. Chloe Grace Moretz gives it everything, a very committed performance and comes off well compared to everything else. In fact, a good deal of the cast are game.

Production design has some atmosphere and while the effects are variable a few are above so-so, credit is due for not overusing and abusing them that it became a CGI-fest. The start does intrigue.

Conversely, the camera work and editing were wanting, being far too drab and hasty-looking rather than dynamic. Other effects are artificial-looking. The direction showed someone not at ease with the material and one finding it difficult to control it. While Moretz and the lead cast are game, the children are inept.

The dialogue is clunky and excessively cheesy, particularly in the teenage/romantic scenes. It was the story execution that was particularly underwhelming about 'The 5th Wave'. There was not enough at stake for the survival/end-of-the-world element to work, it was too predictable, a lot could be seen from a mile away, and urgency and tension were missing. The alien-invasion parts suffered from a lack of thrills, no suspense and less than menacing villains. The teenage/romantic elements are just awkward and bog the film down, placed inappropriately at times too.

On top of neither element being executed well, they don't go well together, coming over as a muddled jumble of tones and cobbled together storytelling, with every recycled, fatigued cliché imaginable with nothing new done with either. The twists were obvious and didn't really feel like twists, the big one not excepted. The characters were generally bland with their development at best sketchy. The ending is sheer nonsense and impossible to take seriously. Also have felt that open-ended ones hinting at a follow-up are rather risky in case that falls through, watching 'The 5th Wave' did nothing to change my mind on this.

In conclusion, not awful but there are a lot of issues here. 3/10 Bethany Cox

This film tells the story of a young girl who fights to survive and to reunite with her brother, after mysterious alien attacks on Earth by various methods.

"The 5th Wave" is a bit different from other alien attach films because there is no widespread battles in urban areas. There is not even an alien looking creature in sight! That keeps mystery alive and suspense going. The first few waves unfold quite quickly, and the fifth wave takes time to develop. Just when things seem to be a certain way, there are multiple plot twists happening together which makes the film even more interesting. The guy playing Evan Walker is very handsome, I hope to see more of him in future films. Another good thing is that "The 5th Wave" is not preachy at all, unlike a similar recent film "Tomorrowland". I enjoyed watching "The 5th Wave".

So this basically reminded me of Red Dawn. But I enjoyed it more. For me, Chloe carried the film. And they mix it up enough with action, adventure, and romance. To keep you entertained long enough.

I'm glad they didn't drag out the movie, but disappointed they aren't going to make the other 2 films related to the other books.

As a low-budget sci-fi flick, The Fifth Wave starts quite promisingly with a more logical continuation from the opening scenes of "Independence Day". The end of the world is nigh. An alien spacecraft has put itself into a threatening earth orbit (note: actually 'orbiting' - as a nod to science guys like me - rather than just inexplicably hanging there in the sky, as Douglas Adams once put it, "in much the same way that bricks don't").

The aliens are throwing calamity after calamity down at small-town America in 'waves': earthquakes; tidal surges; modified bird flu; and bombings.

Against this stressful backdrop, the ever-reliable Chloe Grace-Moretz ("Kick Ass"; "Let the Right One In") plays Cassie who after getting separated from her younger brother Sam (Zackery Arthur) faces the dangers of a cross-country Alabama trek to rescue him.

Like I said, quite a promising premise, and it flows quite nicely until the family get to a Fort Wilderness style sanctuary in the forest. There however the plot goes awry, with the aliens making a seemingly ridiculous strategic move.

Jaw-dropping dumbness now follows with a 'see-it-coming-from-a-mile-away' plot-twist casting Cassie onto her solo-mission, and the film declines into a rather poor 'Hunger-maze-giance' wannabe with Cassie torn between the affections of old crush Ben (Nick "Jurassic World" Robinson) and mysterious saviour Evan (Alex Roe). Much muscle-rippling and skinny-dipping ensues as Cassie oohs and aahs in a girlie fashion that erodes her kick-ass (no pun intended) characterization to date.

The director is J Blakeson.... no, me neither. This is only his second feature, and is a big ask.

The film rather obviously cues up a sequel: this is the first of a series of – apparently quite good – books by Rick Yancey, with the next in the series being called "The Infinite Sea". I don't think I will be rushing to the cinema to see the sequel, if it does happen.

A disappointing film that starts with real promise but then loses its way. Grace-Moretz really does deserve better. Nice animated Gif poster though!.

(Please visit http://bob-the-movie-man.com for the graphical version of this review, and to comment with your thoughts. Thanks).