Josie's greatest fear is surviving the apocalypse. Being stranded in a wasteland, having to fend off for yourself without any love or hope. It would be a terrible fate indeed although not that far removed from living in the city as an adult. Her and I were supposed to go see The Revenant this weekend, but a brief, yet intriguing trailer and the attraction of another doomsday movie made us switch to The 5th Wave at the last minutes and it was a pretty terrible decision. Don't cheat yourselves out of the movies everybody want to see, guys. Don't follow your instincts and challenge conventional wisdom on a whim, because your instincts might very well be full of shit.
So, the aliens have invaded the Earth in the most cowardly possible way. They have parked their dark and exotic looking spaceship in the sky and are sending waves of cataclysms in order to weed the humans out of a piece of real estate they need. The first wave was an EMP that shut off every source of energy on Earth. The second wave was a planet-wide tidal wave that wiped coastal cities out of existence. The third was a pandemic of bird flu. The fourth one was an invasion of human beings by parasite-like creatures. Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Moretz) and her little brother Sam (Zackary Arthur) are trying to survive and find shelter before the fifth and final wave hits the Earth.
The first half of The 5th Wave isn't bad at all if you don't mind the underlying angry republican philosophy. There are "others" who are inherently different, they are out to get you and don't even think about surviving them without a firearm. That sort of stuff. It's annoying, but it's not obtrusive given what The 5th Wave is about. I don't say that often, but the special effects will keep you in your seat. Not only they are insanely spectacular, but the four waves of cataclysm represent situations that have happened or that could very well happen to us. The tidal wave in particular displayed how much of a destructive force water can be. You'll think twice about going to the beach for a while.
Heard that? That's the sound of Ted Cruz popping a boner.
The 5th Wave isn't REALLY a post-apocalyptic movie though. It is, but it's background stuff for what is really wants to be....* drum rolls * YA paranormal romance. I know, that'll teach me to go see a movie based on watching 15 seconds of its trailer. My fault, you can laugh. When the fifth wave starts landing, the movie is separated in two couples. Cassie and Evan (Alex Roe), who wordlessly declare their attraction for one another in a scene worthy of an Ivory commercial and Ben (Nick Robinson) and mandatory (and not very subtle) girl power character Ringer, played by the intriguing Maika Monroe, who acts like Kristen Stewart with emotions. She had a cliché character to work with, but she was the most interesting thing about The 5th Wave. It goes downhill from here, the kids figure out that love is the only way to remain human, yadda, yadda.
What makes The 5th Wave such a frustrating viewing experience is that is eschews originality for safe bets: it has a romance, super powers, a dystopian angle and teenagers standing up to adults. I can already hear the elevator pitch: "It's like Twilight meets Hunger Games, but with guns and aliens, man. It's the next big thing." It's exactly like that and it's full of things you have already seen before and already grew tired of. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for author Rick Yancey that his series is getting its 15 minutes of fame, but The 5th Wave is a great example of why the movie industry is wavering. It's another desperate attempt at squeezing the last drops of money from the YA fiction craze. There's a lot of money behind it (including my $14) and yet it's not a good movie.