As the young soldiers deployed to fight the enemy, Robinson is fine as Ben, and Maika Monroe is reminiscent of Jena Malone's Hunger Games character, Joanna, as Ringer, the tough-as-nails recruit who's the only one to question Vosch's authority. In fact, the humor is missing from most of the film. By the time he's making declarations of affection, the audience has no choice but to laugh at the cheesy lines - and not in an endearing way.Įverything that made Cassie and Evan's slow-burning connection feel realistic on the page has been cut, including the humor. Cassie's relationship with Evan is so compressed that he's reduced to being no more than hot and stoic. While edits and trims from the source material are to be expected in the process of creating a film adaptation, THE 5TH WAVE strips several of the key players of everything that makes them not just likable but also instrumental to the story. Although Moretz is certainly up to the task of playing Cassie, from the movie's very first scene, the on-screen Cassie bears little resemblance to the Cassie of the page, especially in the set up.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.įans of Yancey's gripping sci-fi thriller will wonder how his page-turning action and riveting, charming characters got transformed into this flat, humorless, and disappointing movie. Cassie is a brave and determined main character, but fans of the book series will want to discuss whether the filmmakers fully captured her personality - and those of most of the characters portrayed in the movie.

Focusing mostly on Cassie Sullivan ( Chloe Grace Moretz), the story features about as much romance as the first Divergent movie (a couple of passionate kisses, the apparently requisite shot of a shirtless hunk) and a few uses of strong language (including one exclamation of 'f-king,' plus 's-t,' 'ass,' 'dumbass,' 'bulls-t,' etc.).

Like the book, the movie features end-of-the-world catastrophes, deaths, and violence (mostly from bullet wounds, but also from natural disasters and a worldwide killer virus), but it's not quite as graphically violent as The Hunger Games trilogy. Parents need to know that The 5th Wave is based on Rick Yancey's best-selling YA sci-fi alien-invasion thriller.

Cassie and evan the 5th wave