Whatever Happened To Spielbergian Aliens? "The 5th Wave"

The 5th Wave (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Zackary Arthur, Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello, Ron Livingston, Alex Roe,

Directed by J Blakeson

The Story:

The aliens have made contact, and after 4 waves (Darkness, Destruction, Disease and Invasion) it's time to unleash...The 5th Wave!
But after so much destruction, what could possibly come next?

Cassie (Moretz) is desperate to find her brother (Arthur) who she lost when the Army came to round up survivors and take them to a training facility. There, Colonel Vosch (Schreiber) plans on training the young kids to be the soldiers of the future that can find and destroy the enemy. They shall be...

The 5th Wave!

So, now we know what the 5th Wave is.

How is it as a movie?

Meh, not bad.

It takes the trappings of the dystopian future and places a young female lead into the center of the conflict.

Her quest to reunite and rescue her little brother are the driving force behind the movie, and whether she helps save the world or not is only secondary.

Filled with an ensemble of fine characters to supplement that story, it's nothing earth-shattering and reinventing the sci-fi / action / dystopian future genre...

But entertaining nonetheless.

Probably nothing you haven't seen in one shape or form already, but it's done with enough gusto this go round, you won't feel like you wasted your time.

Final Grade:  C+

Not About Baseball...It's About Aliens... "51"

Okay Netflix, you really need to label some movies as "SyFy Originals"...

The Story:

Faced with mounting pressure from the media, the Air Force relents and allows journalists to come to Area 51 and view what is really going on there.  Col Martin (Bruce Boxleitner) wants no part of it, but he is going to make sure that they only learn half the truth.  Unfortunately, the day of the tour is the day that the secrets the Colonel doesn't want exposed, have decided to make a break for it.

To be fair, this one is actually the most interesting of the movies I've received from SyFy.

That said, you're still encouraged to watch something else! : )



The premise is decent enough with aliens trapped in Area 51 for inspection purposes...and the day of a media circus, they decide they've had enough!  It's up to the Airmen protecting the base to ensure that no aliens escape.

For me, the fact that the tapes read "Air Force" versus "U.S. Air Force" bugged me through the whole movie.  You bought the uniforms... you bought the stripes... how hard would it have been to get the actual name tapes??

Oh, and don't get me started on calling the room to attention when the Chief walked in...

: /

The truth is out there...

Just look for it in a better movie.

Final Grade: C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor:  Not going to happen...