What are the waves, this being the fifth, you
may ask. The Fifth Wave refers to a series of attacks by an alien planet
that needs earth’s resources.
Their invasion comes in waves, such as a gigantic power outage, an
earthquake with tsunami, Asian flu, occupation (including occupation of
individual humans), and finally full-on invasion with the purpose of killing
all survivors.
Cassie (Moretz) is the narrator who is in high
school when the first wave hits.
She is living with her mother, father, and younger brother and
interested in the usual teen preoccupations. She has a crush on a classmate and is teased by her best
friend. With progressive waves of
alien attacks, she anguishes about her losses, but is determined to rescue her
brother who was taken away with other children in a school bus on orders of the
U.S. military. Cassie was supposed
to go too, but missed it when she went to fetch her brother’s toy bear.
What follows is a chronicle of her experiences
in trying to survive and rescue her brother and never knowing whether a person
she meets is enemy or friend. The
aliens have taken to “occupying” human bodies as a control measure. All this adds up to a pervasive
paranoia in which no one knows whether a person is human or alien.
The first half of this drama is intriguing
(although not really original in conception), but it eventually devolves into a
morass of predictability and romantic kitsch, ending with the pronouncement
that “love is not a trick; it’s real.”
Moretz is at her usual fine skill in portraying
a young woman with smarts, always ready to learn, and showing a nice range of
emotional expression. Her two co-stars,
Robinson as Ben and Roe as Evan Walker, match her very well, and provide the
opportunity to prove that females can be as strong and effective as males. Further, the character of Ringer (Maika
Monroe) is a sassy upstart who uses her brain and skill to figure out a
situation and act decisively.
The portrayal of males and females is perhaps
the only plus in The Fifth Wave. Females are both nurturing/caring and
skillful in fighting, and males are protective and strong while also giving
females space to show what they can do.
Enrique Chediak’s cinematographic art comes
through repeatedly, most strikingly when Cassie and her brother have climbed a
tree to escape the tsunami. He
shows a bird’s eye view of them that quickly evolves into a palette of leaves,
making the viewer wonder if they survived.
While it’s not perhaps as original as desired,
Director J. Blakeson has put together an interesting apocalyptic tale with
talented actors. I take a bit of a
jaundiced eye toward it in its playing up the existence of a threat implying
that everyone should be armed at all times. Guns are highlighted so much I began to wonder if the NRA
helped finance the movie.
Gun advocates will love this movie;
others, perhaps, not so much.
Grade: D+ By Donna
R. Copeland
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