The 5th Wave (film): I don't think I've seen a movie like this before

In case you didn't read the short intro, this film starts out looking great and it has some really nice dystopian foreshadowing techniques used in the opening sequence that succeeds in getting us interested in the story from the very start of the film.

The story is going great, the CGI is quality but not all-encompassing or overused, the acting is solid and we are becoming invested in the main characters. Basically everything is going well.... then at a very easily identified point in the movie, things completely stop making sense and the story spirals into a teenage coming-of-age film that would make the makers of the The Maze Runner shake their heads in disbelief.

There will be spoilers ahead because there is no way to discuss this without doing so

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As anyone with eyes and partial brain activity can tell by looking at the film's poster, this is a movie about an alien invasion which is enough for many people to not want to watch it right from the start. I really enjoyed Independence Day and I still do, so I was one of the people in the other camp and welcome these sorts of films if they are done well and have a decent budget.

Chloë Grace Moretz plays the lead role of Cassie, and she is now old enough for us to say that she is pretty hot. It was not ok to say this about her in Kick Ass when she was only 13 :P

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So the aliens take over a little bit easier in this movie as they are able to use electromagnetic weapons that would impress David Icke to shut down all motors and electrical anything with one fell swoop. They are later able to cause earthquakes, tsunamis, and flood with mind-bullets or something, i don't know. It isn't explained but it is pretty out there. Despite these incredibly convenient weapons that the invaders possess that we can't do anything about, the movie still carries on in an interesting "We will survive" type fashion.

This is where the spoilers really kick in

Then while they are staying in a camp where some of the remaining humans are making their way the best they can the military shows up with buses and Hummers and decides to rescue the humans and move them to a secure area. Since up to this point there have been no vehicles that work at all, this, in my mind and many others, was a dead giveaway as to what was going on. It is never explained or even lied about how it is that the military is able to all of a sudden use machines again.

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This is where they need to separate the adults and children because: reasons and you can immediately tell that all the adults are about to be killed.

And this is where the story takes a plunge off the high dive into stupidity.

What was previously an interesting (although far fetched) version of the alien invasion of earth becomes another cookie-cutter teenagers are going to save the world film. It's Hunger Games or something, and the reason that kids were chosen is because they are easier to train than adults or easier to control? I dunno, i kind of stopped paying full attention at that point because it was way too Ender's Game for me, but just not in space.

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The kids become elite soldiers doing the military's dirtywork for them, which very predictably actually are the aliens posing as humans. Somehow we are just supposed to believe that these teenagers and even a little girl that wont stop screaming that shrill little girl scream, are the commandos that the world needs. Oh and of course it wouldn't be complete without the bad-ass, lots of mascara-wearing tough girl to be the "dark horse" in the gang.

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This one "platoon" of child soldiers who is assisted by some random dude that Cassie encounters in the woods manage to take over and destroy the entire military base that is manned by hundreds of professional adult soldiers. During all of this, it still isn't explained how it is that they have functioning engines, lights, and other electrical things that the rest of the planet does not have.

_{from the official Sony Pictures channel}

I really believe that this is one of the only movies that I have ever seen that I can pinpoint the exact moment where it went from entertaining and intriguing to become an eye-rolling cringe-fest. Virtually every aspect of this film is borrowed from something else from about 45 minutes onward. The first half of this film is really good and then they totally ruin it by introducing a series of completely ridiculous and impractical events. It is made worse by the fact that certain elements of it are not explained and completely break with the continuity that the first half of the film had.

The story could have really been something great and yes, I realize it was based on a book so they couldn't exactly just switch it all up. The movie did manage to make its money back but was ripped to pieces by the public and professional critics. Matt LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said it perfectly in this one quote.

""rarely does a movie that fails so utterly start so well"

They had intended to make 3 of these things but after the 1st one performed just "ok' and no one is really looking forward to a sequel, the production has not yet been greenlit. We'll see

My overall rating! 3 / 10

_{first 45 minutes gets an 8/10... the second half is so bad it deserves -2/10}