Phil sees THE 5th WAVE from Sony/Columbia Pictures - May 12, 2016

I don't know about you, but it seems to yours truly that Hollywood loves making sci-fi films where an unknown alien race arrives to Earth and annihilates the human race, enslaves the remaining individuals and plunders our environmental resources to replenish theirs. It's an all too familiar story that was been told time and time again. And even though it has been repeated, we still go see that same story in theaters when we see the trailer for it. Sometimes it's good and sometime it's bad but with THE 5th WAVE, we get a new spin on the story and a new heroine in the sci-fi genre and the results are somewhat mixed.

Theatrical Movie Poster

The film's official synopsis: Four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth in ruin. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother Sam (Zackary Arthur). As she prepares for the inevitable and lethal fifth wave, Cassie teams up with a young man named Evan (Alex Roe) who may become her final hope - if she can only trust him.

Ok, usually I would talk about the movie, its director, actors and actresses, what I thought about the movie and so forth. But to make a long story short: it was just OK. It falls into the standard stereotypical trappings you would come to expect from a Hollywood teen sci-fi film. You have the typical popular teen girl who's caught in a love triangle with two boys, one is a good guy and the other is a mysterious dark guy, adults are taken over by the brainwashing aliens which is a metaphor of never trusting adults period, we never get to see the aliens themselves, illogical plot holes, etc.

While the film started off pretty interesting and intense, I started to lose interest after the first 30 minutes. Seriously, all I thought about was why in the hell did Chloë Grace Moretz agreed to make this movie. She's been in some great films like HUGO, IF I STAY, DARK PLACES and the awesome KICK-ASS films. But then again she did the awful CARRIE remake and the stupid DARK SHADOWS adaptation. So I guess you got to take the good with bad apparently.

So yeah, THE 5th WAVE wasn't all that it was promised to be. It had a cool set up, a great 30 minutes, but then it fell on its face. Now if you've got a mad crush on Chloë Grace Moretz and love watching all her movies, then by all means I sincerely hope you enjoy this one. It's not her best but there's nothing we can do about it, other than not watching it. 2 out of 5 stars! It's a rental at best!

THE 5th WAVE is still playing in select theaters nationwide. The movie is also available on Blu-Ray, DVD as well as on Video On Demand, Netflix and at your local Redbox and retailer.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!