‘5th Wave’ tops other YA films — but could improve
Evan Walker (Alex Roe) and Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) are on the run in “The 5th Wave."
Ben Parish (Nick Robinson) and Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) are having a bad day in “The 5th Wave."
A promising start, but …
… its structure and elements are awfully familiar: An elaborate dystopian future? Check. Kids are special? Check. A complicated plan is concocted to fix everything? Check. That Plan involves trials which turn our youth into skilled fighters? Check. A young girl comes of age and falls for a fellow YA foot soldier? Check. She has a younger sibling for whom she feels responsible? Check.
Have you seen all of this and more in virtually every other YA film adaptation? Check. Are you sick of it yet…?
Maybe. But at least ”The 5th Wave” does a lot of it better, and has Chloë Grace Moretz, Ron Livingston and Liev Schreiber, all cast (possibly type-cast?) doing what they do best: Moretz as Cassie Sullivan, a gorgeous while still impossibly self-conscious teen; Livingston as her father Oliver, a trustworthy good guy; and Schreiber as Colonel Vosch, an uncompromising tough guy.
But at least they know what they’re doing, even though Moretz’s looks don’t help when she’s trying to be awkward around her crush, Ben (Nick Robinson — who hilariously barely notices her), or roughing it amidst the apocalypse while still boasting silky hair and a healthy glow. Far more believable is when he of the perfectly coifed facial hair, Evan (Alex Roe), basically falls for her at first sight.
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But if you’re a fan of the book, changes are made to both Ben and Evan. Some allow for Ben to have noticed Cassie more than originally written, or for Evan to be a more likable earlier on (including showing off his impressive physique whilst he bathes in a creek). Not that the target audience will mind that last bit (I was treated to “Twilight” flashback via the squeals of middle-aged women near me), but other changes may be too much, pushing a love-triangle vibe far more than the fans might enjoy. But still present is the teenaged love-hate relationship burgeoning between Ben and soldier-in-arms Ringer (Maika Monroe), which may give that affair a new angle in the sequel.
For this installment, the apocalypse comes in waves. After showing teens being teens, a spaceship of massive proportions takes up residence just above Ohio. Eventually comes the 1st wave: an electromagnetic pulse that knocks out all power, making phones and cars obsolete. This 1st wave is interesting, watching the Alpha Species deal with no longer having all of the conventicles of modern life.
Interesting but short lived, as the 2nd wave literally hits as massive tsunamis, destroying the coastal areas. In landlocked Ohio, they deal with flooding due to overzealous lakes (not sure how, unless The Others can manipulate water or something). These action sequences are well-done and hard-hitting.
• THE FILM: “The 5th Wave”
• CRITIC RATING: Two and a half stars
• STARRING: Chloë Grace Moretz, Ron Livingston, Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello, Alex Roe
• RATING: Rated PG-13 for violence and destruction, some sci-fi thematic elements, language and brief teen partying. 112 minutes.
• BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed by: J Blakeson. Written by Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner (screenplay); Rick Yancey (novel).
• TRIVIA FROM IMDb: Chloë Grace Moretz said she’s read the book three times and was a fan favorite for the role of Cassie Sullivan long before she was cast. She was also the only actress who auditioned for the part of Cassie. The book is set in Dayton, Ohio, but scenes were filmed on Cotton Avenue in Macon, Georgia which was made to look post-apocalyptic and a little too realistically. Some buildings were damaged by pyrotechnic effects, and residents called the city asking for them to pick up the trash on the streets. During filming, a bus explosion damaged several businesses along Cotton Avenue.
The 3rd wave arrives in the form of a robust bird-flu (augmented by The Others to be more lethal) killing some 97 percent of the remaining population. The survivors exist in tribes at massive campsites, where society has to learn to work and live together again.
All of this interesting stuff is squeezed into the first 20 minutes, without much exploration regarding the struggles to survive, as The Others move onto the 4th wave: the Silencers.
Silencers are the ultimate moles; humans who have been overtaken by parasitic versions of The Others, now able to move about the human population freely, manipulating the thoughts, speech and actions of their host-bodies. Their job is to kill the last lingering humans.
So the humans band together under the remnants of the US military to train the surviving children and teenagers (who are somehow less likely to be Silencers) as soldiers who hunt down the Silencers. This plan is so silly and has no chance in hell of working, and raises more questions than it addresses (how will killing a few Silencers on the ground affect the alien ships overhead, or how these massive military training facilities will go unnoticed). But luckily, the film doesn’t make us live with this conceit long, (unlike the comparatively absurd “The Maze Runner”) and the dreaded 5th wave is revealed.
But again, not before the film wallows in the very tropes so wonderfully lampooned by SNL in “The Group Hopper” short.
Let’s hope they improve the next installment.
MORE IMDb TRIVIA:
• Poundcake in the book is meant to be an overweight 7-8 year old, while Reznik is male and Ringer has black hair and is of Asian ethnicity. In the book Evan Walker has brown eyes that Cassie describes as the color of chocolate.
• Tye Sheridan, Nick Robinson and Mitchell Hope auditioned for the role of Ben Parish.
• J Blakeson ‘s first film since The Disappearance of Alice Creed, which was released in 2009.
• The second book in the series is called The Infinite Sea and it was released in 2014. The third book is named “The Last Star”. Author Rick Yancey once worked for the Internal Revenue Service.
• Emails leaked from Sony revealed that Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Robin Wright, Rachel Weisz and Naomie Harris were considered for the role of Reznik, ranked from first to sixth respectively. Michelle Rodriguez, Marisa Tomei, and Juliette Lewis were also considered. The part went to Maria Bello.
• Mark Ruffalo, Joel Edgerton, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke and Liev Schreiber were considered for the role of Bob. The part went to Michael Beasley.