Netflixhas just recently added a new/old movie to its catalog, and let’s just say the feelings are mixed. The YA adaptation,The 5th Wave, is based on Rick Yancey’s novel of the same name and was supposed to be the first of three movies. A quick look at itsRotten Tomatoesscore of 17% is probably enough reason to understand whyThe 5th Waveis the only book that made it into a movie.The 5th Waveproves that even a star-studded cast cannot save a terrible movie. Chloë Grace Moretz and Alex Roe were leading the movie, but their characters fell flat, and the storyline had major holes.
The 5th Wavemissed the only wave that mattered: the YA wave. The story of the main character, Cassie Sullivan, was promising, though. The movie followed a teenager as life on Earth changed forever, as aliens started to attack the planet in waves. Cassie was left to find out how to navigate (and survive) a post-apocalyptic world, but being separated from her younger brother, getting injured along the way, and crossing paths with Evan Walker, a handsome but secretive stranger, made everything even more difficult. The classic YA formula was there, but the Netflix top 10 movie completely missed the YA novel adaptation wave, and here is why.
‘The 5th Wave’ Missed the “YA Wave”
RememberThe Hunger Games,The Maze Runner, orDivergentmovies? Yes, they were some ofthe best dystopian YA movies of all time. All of them being movies released in the early to mid-2010s, they truly got the time right and invited an entire fandom in to follow along and enjoy these fantasy worlds.The 5th Wavewas trying to ride the YA Wave alongside them, but with its release date in 2016, it just missed the hype.
This exciting genre of movies peaked in the mid-2010s, but YA book adaptations are emerging again, and perhaps Cassie’s story would have found more traction now.The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,Percy Jackson, the upcomingSunrise on the Reapingmovie, and many more have found success or are expected to be received well. The interest in the tumultuous quests of a young character and all that it entails has certainly risen again, and in a different universe, perhapsThe 5th Wavewould have been more appealing if it had been released at the right time. That’s a hugemaybe, though, because the movie is filled to the brim with issues.
Unfortunately,The 5th Waveis one of thosemovies with an unresolved cliffhanger. Even though the YA adaptation was an initial box office success, the extensive criticism from critics and the audience was like a death blow to Cassie’s story. The remaining two books, “The Infinite Seas” and “The Last Star,” were left unadapted, which is understandable due to the bad reception, but still annoying. Ending a dystopian action movie on a cliffhanger and never continuing the story should be illegal. Let’s start a petition.
‘The 5th Wave’ Was Widely Criticized for Good Reason
The 5th Wavesuffered from its predictable plot and pacing that was completely off. Perhaps most annoyingly, the movie left out important details, as the audience never learned anything about the aliens. And the movie is quite literally about an alien invasion. All that is brought across is that the aliens needed more space. They liked Earth and decided to take it. This would maybe evoke some sort of emotion had the movie ever shown them in their actual physical form, but, instead, they are constantly disguised as humans.
If this isn’t already confusing and annoying enough, then here comes the cherry on top. Thedystopian action moviehas a side plot (which feels like a whole different movie — shocker) during which children, including Cassie’s brother, who got taken by the “Others,” are trained to fight aliens.The humans training them, in reality, are aliens. So, aliens disguised as humans are training humans to fight aliens… See where the issue is? It genuinely doesn’t make any sense, and it makes the entire story seem desperate. It is almost as though there was a need to add something, anything, exciting, no matter if it made sense or not.
Unfortunately, the bashing ofThe 5th Wavestill doesn’t stop there. The movie truly did receive substantial criticism, after all. In addition to the missing aliens and alien-infiltrated humans, the character developments were painfully weak. In thisterrible YA dystopian movie adaptation, the human race is on the brink of extinction, experiencing major earthquakes, tsunamis, and diseases, but Cassie’s character is dull as a rock.There is little to no development, and her behavior doesn’t match the circumstances. She ridiculously throws herself into situations that will end in certain death, taking on the full-on heroine mode, but is terrified of the little things. It creates an untrusting atmosphere and makes her come across as pretentious.
Evan shows similar issues. He rescues Cassie, even though it turns out he is half-alien, but it still doesn’t make him likable. There is nothing to his character, as he lacks any sort of enticing or captivating qualities.He is simply there, and that’s about it. Cassie and Evan move the story forward (or at least attempt to do so), but the pace drags on throughout the entire dystopian movie. The terrible special effects fail to evoke any thrilling emotions. The movie constantly chases the action, but even the last, allegedly most deadly wave, in which the aliens are supposedly infiltrating the human race, turns into a “missed YA wave”.
The 5th Waveis available to stream on Netflix, if you dare.
The 5th Wave
