Ever since “The Hunger Games” exploded at the box office in 2012, teen movies set in dystopias – the fancy word for messed-up future societies – have been flooding our cineplexes. There have been four “Hunger Games” movies, two in the “Divergent” series (with one to go), two “Scorch Trials” (also with a third on the way) and now, the latest attempt at a series has arrived, as “The 5th Wave” opens this weekend.
These movies all share a bleak view of America’s future, while also serving up teen heroes who are the only people who can lead the way to saving society. Since they empower teens and make them heroic, it’s no wonder kids are supporting these films strongly. But as a child of the ‘80s who grew up on the much sunnier and optimistic films of John Hughes, I really wish that today’s teens would lighten up and watch something fun and positive instead.
“Wave” follows a teen girl in Ohio named Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz), who is seen carrying a gun in the opening moments to protect herself amid a largely abandoned and devastated world. She feels forced to shoot a man dead in self-defense, only to find he was innocent.
Thus sets off the beginning of a thriller aimed at teens which feels even more intense than the “Hunger” or “Divergent” series at times, because “The 5th Wave” largely takes place in a recognizable present day gone terribly wrong. Via narration, Cassie describes her normal, happy life, which is disrupted suddenly when a giant alien spaceship appears in the earth’s atmosphere and winds up stopping over her hometown.
After several days of mysterious peace, the aliens – tagged as “The Others” by humans – unleash a series of devastating attacks on humanity in unusual ways: wiping out electricity, running water and much of modern life’s amenities with an electromagnetic pulse, unleashing floods around the world and making birds all over the world attack and infect humans with bird flu.
Just as Cassie, her father and younger brother think they’re safe in a refugee camp, several tanks and school buses show up to take children away to supposed safety from an “imminent attack” by The Others. Then, the kids’ parents are told that The Others are blending in with humanity and there’s no way to know which adults are humans and which are in fact aliens now.
After a horrible melee erupts between a protesting parent and the military figures, a huge gunfight breaks out that is largely unseen but leaves Cassie’s dad (Ron Livingston) dead. When she gets separated from her little brother in the commotion, she sets off on foot with a gun her dad gave her to make it to the military base her brother is kept at with the other kids.
Along the way, Cassie encounters is shot and winds up saved by a man named Evan (Alex Roe), who tells her more than she realized about what’s really going on with the military and the kids. Thus begins a big final quest to save kids and the remaining humanity.
“The 5th Wave” is extremely well-shot and well-acted, particularly by Moretz, one of Hollywood’s most intriguing young actresses. The pacing is terrific, and through much of the movie, director J Blakeson creates an incredible level of tension.
Its setup puts viewers right at the start of the problem that devastates humanity rather than explaining history as an afterthought, and that brings a greater level of fear and tension to the movie. In fact, despite the fact the movie has little foul language, keeps most of its violence non-graphic and implies rather than shows a sex scene, the intensity of its action is so strong, and its plot is so dark, that it almost makes this only appropriate for adults despite its PG-13 rating and teen target audience.
Unfortunately, some of the CGI effects are obviously fake, especially in the wave scenes, and its last third drags on forever while also revealing an offensive yet ludicrous final plot twist: (SPOILER ALERT) The aliens have taken on human form, and taken over the Army, and want to train human kids as soldiers to kill off what remains of humanity. (END SPOILER.)
“The 5th Wave” is clearly trying to be an allegory for Nazism and fascism and how these things occur, using the brainwashing of children as the example. It also occasionally slips in PC elements by talking about how humans wiped out other species on the planet, so it’s only fitting that the aliens now want to wipe out humanity while preserving as much of the planet’s resources as possible for the aliens’ exploitation.
Thus, ultimately, while this is an effective thriller for much of its running time, the disappointing ending is a letdown and the level of fear makes this only appropriate for mature older teens and adults. But is it Dateworthy? While the thrill of an effective chase movie is always fun, one that devolves into total stupidity and a complete reliance on one coincidence after another in the closing minutes just becomes annoying, and the movie’s surprisingly harshly realistic edge until the ludicrous finale makes it too dark to be a romantic mood-setter.
