Friday, July 3, 2020

Movie review: The 5th Wave

Aliens want Earth and after four waves of increasingly deadly attacks humanity is being decimated. Traveling a destroyed landscape, 16-yr-old Cassie searches for her younger brother even as a fifth and more deadly attack becomes imminent.

Chloe Moretz (Cassie), Matthew Zuk (Wounded Man), Gabriela Lopez (Lizbeth), Bailey Borders (Julia), Nick Robinson (Ben/Zombie), Ron Livingston (Oliver), Maggie Siff (Lisa), Zackary Arthur (Sam), Live Schreiber (Vosch), Alex Roe (Evan).

The 5th Wave launches right into the chaos that is an alien invasion, but this one is a bit different. The aliens want Earth, but not the inhabitants, so their invasion appears a bit different. After the first couple of waves, the Sullivan family is separated and Cassie ends up searching a desolate landscape in hopes of finding and saving her young brother. This is also about the time she realizes the fourth wave has placed aliens among us.

Acting was solid with Moretz delivering a nice performance. Arthur also does well and seems to work well with Moretz, as did Roe who fit pretty well here. Livingston and Siff contributed nicely with a solid feel. Schreiber delivered his usual in a role he has seen before. The remainder of the cast was enjoyable.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds are well done with a life-sized feel throughout. Effects are good for the most part, though scale seemed a bit off with the alien ships. Dialogue was decent and moved things along with a fair amount of information. Sound and soundtrack are fitting.

Overall The 5th Wave is a slightly unique and enjoyable alien sci-fi. Despite the long almost 2 hour runtime, the film does well until closer to the end when it turns from an alien sci-fi into more of a teen survival flick like a few other recent franchises. Teens should enjoy this one while adults may lose interest toward the end.

With some sexuality, violence, gore, some foul language, and adult situations, this should be fine for teens and above.

Released: 2016
Reviewed: 6.30.20
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure, Aliens, Sci-Fi Action

copyright ©2020 Dave Riedel

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