The first thing you have to know about The Fifth Wave, if you haven’t already figured it out from the trailers and posters featuring a glowing Chloe Grace Moretz, is that it’s a YA film — based on a popular series by award-winning author Rick Yancey. One breathless writer described the series as The Passage meets Ender’s Game.

Now I’ve read both those epic series, and that’s a pretty tall order for The Fifth Wave to fill. And, as we saw with the ill-fated Ender’s Game film adaptation, a popular series does not necessarily a blockbuster make. The Fifth Wave does, however, contain all the elements that teenage girls know and love: a plucky female protagonist who has the potential to save the world, two hunky guys vying for her attention, and a post-apocalyptical world filled with (pick one) aliens or vampires. In this case, it’s aliens.

The Fifth Wave has a surprisingly good pedigree, with screenwriters  Akiva Goldsman (Lone Survivor, Star Trek Into Darkness, The DaVinci Code) and Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich, Charlotte’s Web, Ever After) on the script, and respected actors Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello, Maggie Siff and Ron Livingston cast as the obligatory Adult Authority Figures.

But it’s the radiant Choloe Grace Moretz who gives the film whatever dazzle and charm it may have. As Cassie Sullivan, she is not one of those broody heroines, ala Bella Swan (Twilight), Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) or Tris Prior (Divergent). She does well in the role of a decent kid suddenly caught up in an indecent situation. She is a pleasure to watch.

But is she pleasurable enough to carry this film into a successful franchise? I’ll be surprised if it happens. While there is plenty here for the YA crowd, grownups will groan and cringe, albeit indulgently. They’ll see the plot “twists” coming a mile away, yet be surprised by the suddenness of the declarations of life changing love — the buildup is sketchy at best.

Still, The Fifth Wave is not without it’s merits. As a middle of the road post-apocalyptical YA film, it does it’s job of entertaining the intended audience. Will it be a break out? I think not. But it should find a decent amount of fans willing to ride it.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 52 Minutes

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

https://youtu.be/NU7D-hbsJKk

THE FIFTH WAVE Review — Another Post Apocalyptic Teenage Dream