The 5th Wave - a trickle not tidal.

The 5th Wave, is yet another young adult adaptation to come from the Twilight phase. We all know the Twilight phase - film studios buying rights to young adult fiction in the hope it will reach the ‘success’ of the Twilight franchise. I use the term success loosely because the films were a level of awful I will save for another post or just my brain, but they were a such a cash cows that other studios wanted a bit of the action. The only other franchise to really reach these heights are The Hunger Games - due to better production, better actors and more appeal to a wider audience - it was more than a slightly awkward and creepy love story. 

So, here we have one more thrown our way. The 5th Wave was written by Rick Yancey and is part of a trilogy, with the third and final instalment due out May this year. I went into the film, having finished the book a few days before, so I had an inkling of what to expect and, something I hate doing - what I wanted from the film. 

What I got from the film was little more than your average film. Unfortunately, it skipped past creating any real relationships, other than that of the lead character; Cassie (Chloe Moretz) and of course, the main love interest, Evan Walker (Alex Roe). The only other relationship given any time is that between her and her younger brother, Sam (also referred to as Sams/Sammy/Nugget), as this is the driving story-arch throughout the film. The mother and father are killed off relatively early and it doesn’t really affect you in any sense, the same with the supposed ‘best friend’ - gone without a mention. 

Chloe Moretz pretty much pushes the film through with her performance - after making a breakthrough performance in the Kick-Ass film, she truly is a an actress to watch. She pulls you into her character and the world she is now adapting to - she also narrates sporadically (thank you Clueless for that word) over the film - to bring you up to scratch with the events. I enjoyed the narration - it brings a new emotional depth, again thanks to Moretz’ range. The rest were watch-able, there were no other remarkable performances - they were by no means bad, I have seen so much worse (i.e Twilight), but again, no-one else stood out either. 

As a fan of the book, I knew that parts would be omitted. It happens during an adaptation, books are incredibly detailed, you can’t transfer all of that to screen, you’d be sat there for hours on end. So cuts have to be made, and for the most part, they did that well. But, they also cut the parts where the relationships were built, the foundation was lain. Sure, and understandably; they built up Cassie and Evan, it’s the driving force of the film. But the relationships between the squad - Zombie, Nugget, Ringer and the rest whose name we never really learn but we are meant to affected by their deaths, it doesn’t work. The relationship between them is there, but we never get  real connection. 

Overall, if you're looking to kill time and have a bit of expendable income, sure go watch this film. If you like post-apocalyptic young adult types, definitely go watch this film. 

Otherwise, probably wait for the DVD or Netflix release. It’s a good film, I enjoyed it, but when Creed, Room and The Revenant are all out? No contest.