The 5th Wave - Another boring, uninspired YA film

Science fiction is my favorite genre of media. Books, movies, television, and videogames, it doesn’t matter. That being said, I enjoy variety, and these days the majority of sci-fi films that appear are to appeal to young adults, most of them are in a dystopia where, for some reason, children are placed in circumstances that put them in danger. I think it’s only fair to call this the “Hunger Games” effect. Studios are looking through literature to grab hold of the newest literature series that matches the formula, and nothing new or interesting comes out of the mix. “The 5th Wave” is probably the most cliché of this subcategory of film. The characters are flat, the love triangle is annoying, and the mood never has any focus.

Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a young girl living in the Midwest. She has a normal life and a happy family. The world is shocked when a large foreign object begins circling the earth. The alien life powering the ship begins to attack the planet in powerful displays of destruction and death that the humans call “waves.” After the 3rd wave hits many people evacuate large cities, and after the Sullivan’s leave their family home they get separated. Cassie’s younger brother Sammy (Zackary Arthur) is taken by the military for safekeeping and Cassie begins a trek to find him. At the military base where Sammy is found we find out that the army has discovered that the aliens are disguising themselves as humans and that infected children are easier to identify and therefore make for good soldiers. Sammy goes through the process of becoming a child soldier and is put onto a squad led by a former classmate of Cassie’s named Ben (Nick Robinson). Cassie runs into another young survivor named Evan (Alex Roe) who has agreed to help her find Sammy.

The characters in the story are so boring and have absolutely no personality. The character of Cassie constantly jumps back and forth from reliable and strong-willed fighter to completely useless “damsel in distress” that has been reduced to being led around and rescued by her male counterparts. Speaking of which, the two young men that are part of her love triangle are the exact same character albeit their physicality. So many great actors and actresses are misused in this film such as Maggie Siff, Alex MacNicoll, Tony Revolori, Liev Schreiber and Maika Monroe. There are so many attempts to make quirky characters that just fall short because none of them are even remotely interesting.

Then there is the tone of the film. The film seems to attempt to make commentary on using children as soldiers, but never actually addresses this theme in any meaningful way. All of the films trying to copy the success of “The Hunger Games” franchise all seem to include the same themes that are present in those books and films, but never actually say anything interesting. Simply including child soldiers doesn’t mean your film is offering interesting commentary about child soldiers. Especially if the children never feel overburdened by war once during the film.

It really is too bad that “The 5th Wave” isn’t a good film because it starts off as an interesting premise. The film is built in a way that could be very suspenseful and intense because of the aliens disguising themselves as humans. Imagine the uneasy feeling that could come out of that world. Yet, the film never attempts to be anything but another YA dystopia clone with irritatingly cliché characters and boring storytelling. I just hope that we don’t see any more of these clones in the near future, but I’m not optimistic.