The 5th Wave (2016)

Four waves of increasingly deadly alien attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother.

Director:

J Blakeson

Writers:

Susannah Grant (screenplay by), Akiva Goldsman (screenplay by)

Stars:

Chloë Grace Moretz, Matthew Zuk, Gabriela Lopez

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chloë Grace Moretz	...	Cassie Sullivan
Matthew Zuk	...	Wounded Man with Crucifix
Gabriela Lopez	...	Lizbeth
Bailey Anne Borders	...	Julia (as Bailey Borders)
Nick Robinson	...	Ben Parish / Zombie
Ron Livingston	...	Oliver Sullivan
Maggie Siff	...	Lisa Sullivan
Zackary Arthur	...	Sam Sullivan
David Maldonado	...	Soccer Coach (as Dave Maldonado)
Paul Ryden	...	TV News Anchor
E. Roger Mitchell	...	White House Spokesman
Charmin Lee	...	Ms. Paulson
Parker Wierling	...	Jeremy
Madison Staines	...	Teary School Kid
Tony Revolori	...	Dumbo

Storyline

Four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth in ruin. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. As she prepares for the inevitable and lethal fifth wave, Cassie teams up with a young man who may become her final hope - if she can only trust him.

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Plot Keywords:

based on young adult novel | alien | male objectification | invasion | kiss | 

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Taglines:

The fight for humanity has begun.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and destruction, some sci-fi thematic elements, language and brief teen partying.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Instagram

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 January 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Fifth Wave

Filming Locations:

Macon, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$38,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,326,356, 24 January 2016, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$34,912,982, 22 May 2016

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$67,065,200, 4 February 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital, Material Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital Datasat Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cassie sings Coldplay's "Don't Panic" during the opening credits.

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Goofs

The American Flag patches on the soldiers' arms are backwards. The field of stars always faces the front.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Wounded Man with Crucifix: [from another room] Help me! Somebody there? I'm hurt. Is somebody there? Please! I'm bleeding. Help me.
Cassie Sullivan: [pushes the door open with her rifle]
Wounded Man with Crucifix: [sitting on the floor pointing a pistol] Drop your weapon.
Cassie Sullivan: You drop yours first. Drop it!
Wounded Man with Crucifix: [slowly sets his gun down and puts his hands up] Okay. Your turn.
Cassie Sullivan: Let me see your other hand...
Wounded Man with Crucifix: If I move this hand, I'm afraid my stomach will fall out.
Cassie Sullivan: I need to see your other hand. What's in your hand?
Wounded Man with Crucifix: Nothing. Drop your weapon.
[...]

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Connections

References Dumbo (1941)

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Soundtracks

Summer Breaking
Written by Mark Ronson, Michael Chabon, Jeff Bhasker (as Jeffrey Bhasker) and Kevin Parker
Performed by Mark Ronson featuring Kevin Parker
Courtesy of Sony Music U.K./RCA Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment and Courtesy of Universal Music Australia Pty Limited

User Reviews

Oh Lord, save us from stupid aliens

As a low-budget sci-fi flick, The Fifth Wave starts quite promisingly with a more logical continuation from the opening scenes of "Independence Day". The end of the world is nigh. An alien spacecraft has put itself into a threatening earth orbit (note: actually 'orbiting' - as a nod to science guys like me - rather than just inexplicably hanging there in the sky, as Douglas Adams once put it, "in much the same way that bricks don't").

The aliens are throwing calamity after calamity down at small-town America in 'waves': earthquakes; tidal surges; modified bird flu; and bombings.

Against this stressful backdrop, the ever-reliable Chloe Grace-Moretz ("Kick Ass"; "Let the Right One In") plays Cassie who after getting separated from her younger brother Sam (Zackery Arthur) faces the dangers of a cross-country Alabama trek to rescue him.

Like I said, quite a promising premise, and it flows quite nicely until the family get to a Fort Wilderness style sanctuary in the forest. There however the plot goes awry, with the aliens making a seemingly ridiculous strategic move.

Jaw-dropping dumbness now follows with a 'see-it-coming-from-a-mile-away' plot-twist casting Cassie onto her solo-mission, and the film declines into a rather poor 'Hunger-maze-giance' wannabe with Cassie torn between the affections of old crush Ben (Nick "Jurassic World" Robinson) and mysterious saviour Evan (Alex Roe). Much muscle-rippling and skinny-dipping ensues as Cassie oohs and aahs in a girlie fashion that erodes her kick-ass (no pun intended) characterization to date.

The director is J Blakeson.... no, me neither. This is only his second feature, and is a big ask.

The film rather obviously cues up a sequel: this is the first of a series of – apparently quite good – books by Rick Yancey, with the next in the series being called "The Infinite Sea". I don't think I will be rushing to the cinema to see the sequel, if it does happen.

A disappointing film that starts with real promise but then loses its way. Grace-Moretz really does deserve better. Nice animated Gif poster though!.

(Please visit http://bob-the-movie-man.com for the graphical version of this review, and to comment with your thoughts. Thanks).