THE 5TH WAVE (J Blakeson). 111 minutes. Opens Friday (January 22). See listing. Rating: N
The dystopia in The 5th Wave feels like it was formulated in an R&D lab tasked with engineering the next big YA hit. Elements of Twilight and The Hunger Games contaminate this franchise wannabe adapted from a YA novel by Rick Yancey, along with bits from The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Independence Day.
Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Cassie, one of the few survivors after aliens begin a systematic campaign to wipe out humans that involves an electr0magnatic pulse, tsunami, bird flu and finally body snatchers that look like the face-huggers from Aliens.
In response, the U.S. Army rounds up kids to help fend off the titular final attack. For some reason that’s barely explained, they’re special, or should be made to feel so because they’re the film’s target audience.
Like the abandoned, bullet-riddled vehicles glimpsed onscreen, this movie is a pile-up of beat-up motifs that clog the story and leave no room for the characters to emote – ironic since it’s supposed to be about holding on to humanity.
Cassie’s fight for survival and to rescue her kid brother comes to a screeching halt so she can eyeball-fuck one or the other among this movie’s version of Peeta and Gale. We’re meant to swoon, but these scenes elicited loud, sneering chuckles in the audience I saw it with.
