5th Wave, The (5/3/2016)

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

Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe and Ron Livingston

Directed by J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed)

I’m so thankful there wasn’t a 6th wave, I barely made it through the first five.

In the new film The 5th Wave, four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. As she prepares for the inevitable and lethal 5th wave, Cassie teams up with a young man who may become her final hope – if she can only trust him.

After watching the trailer for The 5ht Wave, I honestly rolled my eyes and thought that it looked like another teenage dystopia movie with a unnecessary love story. I mean where are all the adults? Why do only the teenagers survive? Will people rather find a safe place to survive or a cute member of the opposite sex? Well they try to answer those questions, but I’m still not buying it …and I could have done without the love story or the “I hope he doesn’t see me watching him bathe in the lake even though it’s 40 degrees outside” scene.

The love story really slows down the film. I’m sure the teenagers like it, but I was wishing to have had a remote to fast forward through the sappy looks and awkward “should we kiss” moments. Spoiler…they do. I mean most people would be up for a little moonlit making out in the middle of an alien invasion after seeing their mother die, their father gets gunned down and being separated from their one living sibling.

My favorite part was when one of the kid soldiers says, “they sent earthquakes and floods, but they are afraid of an army of children…none of this makes sense.” Exactly, none of this makes sense!!

The characters are cliché and predictable…including the new boyfriend not being who he says he is…please don’t pretend that ruined the movie. This movie was ruined somewhere between, “Hey I have an idea…” and “Action.”

I didn’t have high hopes for The 5th Wave, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. It is a “Coaster.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no nudity or sex, but there are a few innuendos. There is one F-word and a few S-words and teenagers do most of the cursing.

There is quite a bit of violence in the film. We see shootings, fights and mass destruction.

The dark themes throughout, including aliens disguised as humans and children being forced to train and kill “others.” We see kids as young as 5 or 6 with guns, which could be disturbing to some.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. At the end of the film Evan says, “You can’t be a human and an other, you have to decide. You can’t be both.” What does he mean by that?

Read Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”


2. What do you think Jesus means in this verse?


3. What is your “other” that is competing for your time, money, energy and attention?