Movie Review: The 5th Wave (WARNING: SOME SPOILERS) · 9:44pm Feb 18th, 2016
Hey everyone, I'm back with another movie review!
I just got back from the theater, seeing none other than The 5th Wave, another movie I've anticipated for a while. I'm so happy I got to see it, knowing today was the last day it is showing here, and probably everywhere.
So, to start off, I really REALLY liked this film for a few reasons, one of them being it is set in my home state of Ohio, and much of it is set in Dayton at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which I have been to many times.
Basically what happens is, aliens from an unknown planet arrive on Earth and begin attacking in waves. The first wave is an electromagnetic pulse that wipes out all of the power in the world, yes, this includes car/airplane engines, running water systems and any machinery (this is shown with a very violent car pileup, followed by a Boeing 747 falling out of the sky in an un-powerless-manner and exploding upon impact.
Next, the second wave, a massive earthquake of 10.0 or higher (by my guess that is) that shakes the entire globe and triggers 300-feet high tsunamis that wipe out much of the world's coastal cities and millions die in the process.
The third wave is where the aliens become sons of bitches and modify a virus that birds carry around the world and kills millions more.
The final wave, or so us humans believe it to be, is where the aliens manipulate human beings and control their minds from within; basically they look like that weird blob thing from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Anyways, they take over human minds and stuff.
The movie/book follows a teenage girl named Carrie from the town of Bedford, Ohio with her parents and her brother, her parents being killed during the waves. Her mother died from the virus, her father killed by the Army when the remaining survivors try to revolt against the military for wanting to have them watched over so they aren't part of the aliens, known as the Others.
Carrie escapes Camp Cuyahoga (Cuyahoga County Ohio .w.) after her father is killed and proceeds to try and make it to Dayton where her younger brother Sam is taken by the Army, where he and a teen she had a crush on in high school are trained to become soldiers to fight against the aliens, with the Army now knowing a 5th wave is coming (hence the title).
She is injured along the way and is taken into the care of a slightly older guy named Evan and he tries to help her get to Dayton. Meanwhile, the high schooler Cassie had a crush on, Ben, is set to take his newly formed squadron out to stop the 5th wave, which is said to be a full-blown invasion to destroy the rest of humanity. During the mission, they find out that the Army is really taken over by the Others, and the implants they received were really just to make them think normal humans that weren't affected were enemies. He then realizes that they are, in fact, the 5th wave. Ben confronts the colonel about it, who states the cliche statement "Humans were already destroying the Earth" and stuff.
Cassie does arrive in Dayton and rescues her younger brother as the rest of the children-turned-soldiers are deployed on cargo jets to take over other cities. Meanwhile, Evan, helps out by destroying the base as they evacuate but is presumably killed in the process. Ben, Cassie, her brother, and the rest of Ben's squadron evacuate and set up camp at a farm where the film ends with the other children presumably killing other humans.
My thoughts on the movie? I really freaking loved it. Although I wish they showed a destroyed version of my home city, Columbus, seeing as she had to travel from Northeast Ohio to the southwest in Dayton, but that is all skipped over by time skips and what not.
The movie also had a really big cliff hanger, almost proving there will be a sequel at some point in time.
My rating on the movie? 9.5/10. Why a 9.5? One, Columbus was not once seen nor mentioned. Two, Wright Patterson was visibly much different than it is in real life. Three, the cliffhanger kind of actually sucked. They had no plan, they just said one day they will fight back.
