The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

17% Tomatometer 143 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings

The human race stands on the brink of extinction as a series of alien attacks decimate the planet, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and disease. Separated from her family, Ohio teenager Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) will do whatever it takes to reunite with her brother Sam. Fate leads her to form an alliance with Evan Walker (Alex Roe), a mysterious young man who may be her last hope. Forced to trust each other, Cassie and Evan fight for survival during the fifth assault from the invaders.

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The 5th Wave

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Critics Consensus

With unimpressive effects and plot points seemingly pieced together from previous dystopian YA sci-fi films, The 5th Wave ends up feeling like more of a limp, derivative wriggle.

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The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com With a terrific cast and a director who at least is making an attempt to shake up the literary dystopian status quo, there's really no reason for this one to be as outright terrible as it ultimately proves to be. Rated: 1.5/4 Aug 16, 2016 Full Review The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Roxana Hadadi Chesapeake Family Magazine The 5th Wave is simultaneously boring and cringingly overwrought, with a bland protagonist, a completely nonsensical story, and another teen love triangle. Rated: 1.5/5 Aug 2, 2016 Full Review The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Udita Jhunjhunwala Scroll.in The 5th Wave, which has echoes of Divergent and The Hunger Games, both of which have strong female protagonists, is too obviously just the introductory chapter. Jun 21, 2016 Full Review The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Don Shanahan Every Movie Has a Lesson No one is going to take tactical gear-wearing, elementary school-age kids with pretend-intimidating codenames and armed with semi-automatic weapons seriously. Rated: 2/5 Oct 13, 2024 Full Review The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Joe Lipsett Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr Podcast Despite featuring likeable actors like Grace-Moretz and Robinson, the film adaptation of Rick Yancey's novel has no time for anything. There's a propulsive need to barrel forward, but nothing lands (characters, plot, not even action). Rated: 2/5 Jun 18, 2024 Full Review The 5th Wave | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review These derivative YA stories, riddled with post-apocalyptic battles and love triangles, feel interchangeable, like they're all drawn from the same grab-bag of ideas. The 5th Wave does nothing to set itself apart from this hodgepodge. Rated: 1/4 Apr 22, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jamie D Don’t understand the reviews. It’s a great flick for what it is Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/08/24 Full Review Kirstin A This is a great movie. Good actors, have watched it several times. I Hope they make the sequel Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/09/24 Full Review Justin T Not only is this generic and forgettable but it also suffers from perplexing and unlikable film making decisions. It's a stereotypical American Hollywood lack of imagination throughout. The lead actress Chloë Grace Moretz can act but does not look like she survived an apocalypse let alone five of them, her hair is just too perfect, plus she looks and acts too old to be a school student. They initially frame it from her perspective but they shift it to anyone's perspective and that is disjointed. There are many plot holes like the first two waves seem pretty pointless compared to the third, only being able to detect t in children makes no sense, how do they have ‘intelligence’ on these aliens, if the aliens take over human bodies then how do they act like that person, feels like they'd act very differently. And many more, I realise they explain some of this in the film but at the time it really takes you out of the experience. The scene where the army came made my eyes roll so many times, so many issues. I think I rolled my eyes more times than any other film I've seen. Couldn't they think of a better name for the aliens? It's quite slow and largely predictable, it could have been a great 15 minute short. The special effects are only okay. The dark sections are too dark. There is no real conclusion. Don't bother. Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 06/06/24 Full Review C K I did enjoy the lead and her story, the story of Evan just frustrated me it felt so forced and unnatural. In an effort to tell Evans story, to inject a desperate 'plot twist'the director simply didn't have the skill to project evans story with discretion and not resort to marvel film visual theatrics.Evans amplified traits were so different than all his peers to the detriment, it unraveled every preceding narratives of the enemy the director worked so hard to weave.That was the pivotal scene enough to destroy what could have been memorable survival thriller story of solo or duo, if everybody was marvel like Evan why have the children in the film at all? Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 05/31/24 Full Review Lizardo Joaquín Y This Movie is incredibly original and good, it has his mistakes like come silly parts but in general, its pretty good and enjoyable. I need a second one Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/23/24 Full Review Ionela C The book is awesome, the movie isn't Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/20/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

J Blakeson Director Chloë Grace Moretz Cassie Sullivan Nick Robinson Ben Parish Ron Livingston Oliver Sullivan Maggie Siff Lisa Sullivan Alex Roe Evan Walker
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The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Shot in the Leg The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Shot in the Leg 2:29 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Afraid You'd Shoot Me The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Afraid You'd Shoot Me 2:25 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - We Are the 5th Wave The 5th Wave: Official Clip - We Are the 5th Wave 2:27 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - The New Guy The 5th Wave: Official Clip - The New Guy 2:07 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - The Parasites True Form The 5th Wave: Official Clip - The Parasites True Form 2:17 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - I Choose You The 5th Wave: Official Clip - I Choose You 2:41 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Losing Family The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Losing Family 2:13 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Did You Shoot Me? The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Did You Shoot Me? 2:45 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Hope Makes Us Human The 5th Wave: Official Clip - Hope Makes Us Human 2:26 The 5th Wave: Official Clip - The End of the World The 5th Wave: Official Clip - The End of the World 4:10 View more videos

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The 5th Wave

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Synopsis The human race stands on the brink of extinction as a series of alien attacks decimate the planet, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and disease. Separated from her family, Ohio teenager Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) will do whatever it takes to reunite with her brother Sam. Fate leads her to form an alliance with Evan Walker (Alex Roe), a mysterious young man who may be her last hope. Forced to trust each other, Cassie and Evan fight for survival during the fifth assault from the invaders.

Director
J Blakeson

Producer
Tobey Maguire, Graham King, Matthew Plouffe, Lynn Harris

Screenwriter
Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner

Distributor
Sony Pictures Entertainment

Production Co
Material Pictures, GK Films

Rating
PG-13 (Language|Brief Teen Partying|Some Sci-Fi Thematic Elements|Violence and Destruction)

Genre
Sci-Fi, Adventure, Mystery & Thriller

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 22, 2016, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 16, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA)
$34.9M

Runtime
1h 52m

Sound Mix
Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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