The future looks bleak for earth
Bakang Israel | Friday February 5, 2016 16:08
This multi genre sci-fi sees the human race stand on the brink of extinction as aliens decimate the planet, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and disease. Separated from her family, Ohio teenager Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) does whatever it takes to reunite with her brother Sam.
Fate leads her to form an alliance with Evan Walker (Alex Roe), a mysterious young man who may be her last hope. Forced to trust each other, Cassie and Evan fight for survival during the fifth assault from the mysterious earth invaders. This film shares the same vibe as Hunger Games and Insurgent (2015) hence is target audience are youth and young adults. The 5th Wave stars rising action actress Chloë Grace Moretz has excelled in blockbusters like The Equalizer and Kick-Ass. Liev Schreiber is also in the mix dishing out deceitful habits just as he did in the 2010 action thriller film Salt alongside Angelina Jolie. The adventures come from director J Blackson, the same maker of Pitch Perfect (2005).
Action
Natural disaster films are naturally good because of the mind-blowing exaggerations of destruction and chaos they bring to the screen. This was the catch, which dragged me to theatre in the first place, because of the teaser, which sort of challenged other films like San Andreas. In the beginning, however, I for one got a bit lost as alien drones descended on earth.
The storyline in my view was full of loopholes. We did not see the real alien invaders, only hosts, and also the spread of the disease is not explained quite nicely.
Meanwhile, the suspense part of the movie is riveting. For example there are scenes where children get isolated from their parents for mysterious reasons. The scenes create a good niggling feeling of suspense with a big why. The 5thWave is also a bit spooky for reasons because no one trusts another due to the simple fact that Liev Schreiber (Colonel Vosch) spread rumours that adults were vulnerable to hosting alien parasites.
So the funny thing again about it is that the parasites aren’t visibly clear to the naked eye. The movie is also full of twists. Liev Schreiber was on top of his lying game as usual giving people the wrong impression of what the aliens look like whilst he is in alliance with these new threats to humanity.
Due to all that mystery and hostility, the action was too fascinating as was Chloë Grace Moretz (Cassie Sullivan). There is plenty of gun action with sharp shooting alien snipers alongside massive water waves wiping away human existence, which is totally epic. The fiction part is also quite good, looking at the stunts particularly those from the ladies’ man Evan Walker (Alex Roe), as he brought a bit of Twillight superhuman powers with him.
Speaking of which, there is also a bit of love in the air in this film. Themes of family torn apart, humanity in crises, survival, military/war, disaster and hope are under the microscope. Lastly, the cinematography wraps up the whole effort for this film. The 5thWave is colourful and interesting because of its adventurous nature. The surviving human fugitives hide in the woods, desolated cities and so forth, which makes it easy for one to connect to the film. However since this is the inception of a franchise, I hope the suspense and more content are reserved for the sequels.
Reception
According to box office statistics, The 5th Wave had a production budget of $38 million, yet it only made opening weekend sales of $10 million. It premiered sixth on the box office chart last week, but slipped down to eighth this week. Currently it sits on $65 million worldwide screening sales with two weeks on circuit.
Reviewed by Bakang Israel
Movie: The 5th Wave
Genre: Action |Adventure |Sci-Fi
Duration: 1hour 52 mins
Age Restriction: 16
Release Date: January 29th
Director: J Blakeson
Main Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz (Cassie Sullivan), Liev Schreiber (Colonel Vosch), Evan Walker (Alex Roe) and Nick Robinson (Ben Parish)
Box Office
Top five movies in the world currently.
1.Kung Fu Panda 3
2.The Revenant
3.Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4.The Finest Hours
5.Ride Along 2
Ratings
The movie looks good, but lacks consistency. It does not meet all expectations as most is reserved for the next installment, The movie deserves a 5/10.