For a while, The 5th Wave is modestly promising: a dramatic in-medias-res opening finds the teenage heroine (played by Chloë Grace Moretz) encountering a stranger while searching an abandoned convenience store and shooting him in a panic. A prelude to her post-apocalyptic isolation is then shown, a crowded and entertaining 20- or 25-minute montage of Roland Emmerich-style set pieces, including tsunamis crashing into major cities and a visit to an expansive quarantine zone. The film then implodes spectacularly, however, with end-of-the-world spectacle giving way to a flatly executed series of YA clichés. Everything is either inconsistent (the alien antagonists' body-snatching-in-suburban-Ohio end game does not comport with their early global omnipotence), trite (the introduction of a studly farmhand to serve as love interest), or uncomfortable: much of the story revolves around child soldiers, and the film is not concerned by the idea of an adolescent army, only whether they are fighting for the right side.

D

I feel bad for Chloë Grace Moretz. I can vividly imagine her agent proposing this role to her "Shailene and Jennifer have their franchises and you need one too".

There is a hilarious moment in this film when her wild-eyed over-emoting is captured in glorious slow motion. While she is running and falling no less.

It's crazy, I was about to post the same thing. I like her, but she seems to do a lot of shit films that, on paper, look like they could be big. Of course there are more failed YA adaptations than there are successes. But still, one would have imagined this would have and could have been better for her career (let's assume numbers will be mediocre at the very best).

What bothers me most regarding this film is definitely the fact these aliens travel the galaxy, cause seismic events around the globe, spread a new flu strain, etc., but their ultimate plan (the titular fifth wave) centers on fooling inexperienced 13-year-old Ohioans into fighting for them.

To a certain extent, of course, many alien-invasion films deal with a similar dynamic: how to portray the invading force at first as mammoth and incomprehensible, but then recast them as an opponent the human race can defeat with our military strength and/or ingenuity. But it feels particularly strained in this one. And the film has absolutely zero Cool Alien Moments. Not even a fleeting gooey, slithery creature reveal (not counting Maria Bello's makeup).

I didn't realize it was Bello until the end credits. This is a steep fall from The Cooler and A History of Violence.

The Fifth Wave started out great. The first half hour is a taut, hard-edged thrill. But it's really too icy bleak for most kids. And then by the middle of the movie it has melted into a diffuse slush, only firming up slightly in the last act. *B-*