Alternatives is the tagline feature for other forms of entertainment outside of discussing literature. These posts may encompass television, movies, games, and music with a randomized flavour of the moment approach to each post.
Alternatives
Movies Trailers – The 5th Wave (2016)
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Survival, Aliens, Romance
Duration: N/A
Directed By: J Blakeson
Screenplay By: Susannah Grant
Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz (Cassie), Alex Roe (Evan), Nick Robinson (Ben), Maika Monroe (Ringer), Liev Schreiber (Vosch)
Release Date: January 15, 2016
In the new film The 5th Wave, four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother.
I was actually expecting this teaser trailer to make waves closer to the release of The Maze Runner’s: Scorch Trials next month but I’m going to guess that since there was a “leak”, Sony was like just “okaywhynot“. And since I saw this trailer yesterday, I HAD A DAY TO SIMMER MY THOUGHTS.
Let it be known that I rated The 5th Wave a 4/5 two years ago; The Infinite Sea a 2/5. So everything I say next is with the best intentions as a reader who is invested in the story.
Casting
Cassie (seems pretty solid), Ben (so baby faced), and Evan (all dat scruff)–were all fine. It’s Ringer that’s slightly odd to me. I love Maika Monroe and what she’s done with The Guest and It Follows; stellar movies in their own right, so she’ll probably change any reservations I have. But this was an opportunity to showcase an Asian/Native actress. It’s passable though as acting can save all of the writing and all that jazz.
Reaction
It’s the direction/world-building that I’m hoping is more than what the trailer lets on. But here are some glaring thoughts (ahem):
- Where’s the snow and everything that’s supposed to be associated with freezing to death in Winter?
- Why is it so bright everywhere?
- Wtf is this lake bathing nonsense?
- Are they merging the contents of T5W with TIS?
- How will they portray multi-POV writing on screen (one of the strengths IMO of Yancey’s storytelling; it was told in 4-POVs)
- How will they handle the key moments?!?!
- THIS TRAILER CONVINCES ME, AS A VIEWER, THAT A LOVE TRIANGLE COMING IN HOT.
- The trailer should have ended with: “Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.” – Part of a longer quote, and one of the most epic feels of The 5th Wave.
Most of this might mean nothing to you unless you’ve read the book. So if you’ve read The 5th Wave, let me know your thoughts! Or if you haven’t, are you convinced to pick up the title now? (Alternatively, will you see the film?)
In terms of the recent “young adult Alien” market, only The Host comes close to its story (I’m probably forgetting something else), so it could be a success? Either way, I’m convinced I’ll dislike this film despite throwing money at it… -__- but maybe future trailers can convince me otherwise.
Goodbye.
Cheers,
Joey
connect: afterthoughtAn // twitter | anotherafterthought // goodreads
(Disclaimer: Promo poster isn’t official. Will change the banner/poster when it releases.)
thoughts and afterthoughts. 
Yes!! The writing in The Fifth Wave is one of its best things, I mean, it’s hard enough to correctly pull off a dual-POV thing, let alone 4 POVs. How on earth they’re going to show that in the film, I really wonder. Thanks for sharing this, I actually had no idea the trailer was out… oops. xD
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You’re welcome! I think I appreciated the multi-POV because in a dystopian world: every life matters, and that’s what it features so well. Cassie, Ben, …I forget her brother’s name LOL, Ringer. I think it really depends on how much they follow in Cassies POV because it’d just be like television if they just have scenes that don’t include her.
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I haven’t read the book yet, so maybe that’s I actually kind of enjoyed the trailer? It looked interesting enough for me to give it a try without revealing too much info. So, I’ll probably try the book sometime before it comes out if I can.
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That’s a good incentive if you’re team #bookbeforefilm! Yeah, the trailer does good on only introducing the waves thus far (which is introduced early on anyways). Glad to see you’re interested though!
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It’s funny you should mention team #bookbeforefilm because it reminds me of how I never knew The Hunger Games was a book until I saw the movie *facepalm* But yeah, since it comes out in 2016, I should have enough time to read it. Quick question, though. How gory is it?
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Uh. Probably a lot? It’s like a name version of The Hunger Games I guess with the same amount of fighting (if not more) than Divergent? These are probably bad examples.
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By gore I meant blood and guts, and weird alien stuff going down.
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While I liked The 5th Wave well enough, I never really loved it and I can’t remember a lot about it, not have I been bothered to pick up the second book (mostly due to the fact that the reviews I’ve seen are a lot less glowing). This trailer doesn’t really inspire me in any way. I’ll probably watch it one day when it’s on dvd, but only because I like to see movies that are adapted from books I’ve read, no matter how much I liked them.
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Sadly, I remember a lot of the bad moments in T5W at least (revolving around Evan being a creeper because I read so much rants about it). But it’s good to hear that you’d at least give the film a try even if it’s not in theaters.
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Thanks for putting this up, J. I cannot wait to see this movie!
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Are you gonna take your kids or is it going to be momma’s day with her Zombie/Silencer (I don’t know who you like better..so)?
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I enjoyed the first and second book very much, but I’m not that excited for the movie, because the only cast I like is Nugget and Teddy 😂. Still I want to know about the movie adaptation, thanks for sharing this!
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Oh! I didn’t look into the cast too far after the main 5-6 haha, but that’s okay if you do/don’t watch it! I think I have a stronger attachment to this story/trilogy because it’s one of the books that started me off on the blogging journey!
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Awesome!
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I haven’t read the 5th Wave but gosh darn this trailer looks quite awesome! I need to read the book before the movie…
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Glad the film could be of some incentive!
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I read The 5th Wave and really liked it so I’m nervous about the movie. I’m not really a fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and the only other actors I recognized where Liev Schreiber and the guy from Office Space whose name I am blanking on. The other actors I don’t know may be great but it’s going to come down to the writing and how the whole thing is translated to film. I just have a feeling that I’m going to be severely disappointed in the movie so I’ll probably wait until it’s released on dvd and rent it.
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I’m not completely sold on Moretz as an actress but she’s shown bursts of good performances; everyone else is pretty new to me. Except Zombie who’s the older brother in Jurassic World; which is funny because when I first saw him in the movie (JW), I remembered reading about casting news for T5W haha.
I’m hoping it’s not a disappointment but if it’s one of those “Divergent” scenarios then they can’t possible fail at the box office.
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I’m really anxious about this movie adaptation, but well, like everytime a book I liked is going on the big screen. I wasn’t convinced at first about Chloe playing Cassie, but I have to admit I’m getting used to it. I’m eager to see how they all turn out in the actual movie! The book was so intriguing and interesting, with all the POV, I wonder how they’re going to turn that into the big screen…I guess we’ll see! 🙂
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I don’t normally picture actors in the characters when I read but after seeing the casting news…I thought: “yeah, I could see it”. I’m hoping she delivers a good performance though because this is her “trilogy” to ride and die with haha.
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Haha exactly, let’s hope she does it well! 🙂
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I really loved the first book. The second one, not so much. But this trailer looked kinda disappointing. Not disappointing as in it didn’t seem to stick to the book, but it just looks like it might not be that great of a movie in general. That said, I’m definitely going to see the movie!
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Yeah TIS was a letdown for me too. I think this teaser trailer basically opens the room to say “here’s the 4 waves” — good or bad, I don’t know — it could have been done in the synopsis, and the fact that there are attractive teens in all the important roles. (Except can I just say that I thought there was too much Vosch in the trailer. Like it feels like he’s in the trailer more than I saw him in the first book is all.)
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Oh my gosh this is one of my favorite series ever! I agree with most of your thoughts, like it would have been awesome if they could have had that quote at the end, but the trailer still looks amazing! Great post 🙂
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Yeah that quote literally blew me away because I thought that shit was about to happen and get serious after she said it! Although I can imagine it being super cheesy if she says it in the film..I don’t know why.
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I haven’t read the book, but I just watched the trailer and now I am like “I NEED THIS!” So I will probably read (or listen) to this book soon!
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Nothing like a good movie trailer to kick start some interest, huh?
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It looks… not that bad, I guess, but Infinite Sea was so bad, not sure I want to invest more time into this…
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OHHHH. Another person who disliked The Infinite Sea x) we are a rare breed.
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