Well, this was inevitable: Chloë Grace Moretz is starring in an adaptation of a dystopian YA book. This time around, it’s Rick Yancey’s best-selling “The 5th Wave” that’s getting the big-screen treatment, with Mortez playing Cassie, a 16-year-old on a mission to save her little brother in the throes of an alien attack on Earth.
The action-packed trailer for the film begins with Cassie, gun in hand, wandering through a desolate city, the lone human in sight. It’s not long before she encounters another person — who also happens to have a gun. Their introduction isn’t exactly friendly, with both demanding that the other drop their weapon. The stranger lays down his weapon explaining, “I know you’re human because if you were one of them, you would have shot me already.”
Them refers to the Others, who arrived on Earth via “an unfamiliar object.” According to Cassie’s Dad, the Others want our planet. To get it, they’ve taken away access to power and electricity, laid cities to waste, spread a deadly airborne virus and exerted political control. The next step in their takeover is the 5th wave the title refers to, and if it succeeds, there won’t be any Earthlings left. Despite the chaos and the threat of imminent extinction, Cassie remains committed to finding her brother, who the Others have taken. “The Others see our hope as a weakness, but they’re wrong,” Cassie insists.
Moretz is only 18-years-old, but her decade-plus career already includes drama (“Clouds of Sils Maria”), romance (last year’s box-office hit “If I Stay”), action (“Kick-Ass”), horror (“Carrie”) and comedy (in a memorable turn as Jack Donaghy’s pint-sized rival in “30 Rock.”) It was only a matter of time before the actress headlined a blockbuster of this kind. The critically acclaimed novel on which the movie is based is unsurprisingly part of a trilogy, so if “The 5th Wave” does well at the box office, we’ll have another female-centric franchise on our hands.
“The 5th Wave” arrives January 15, 2016. Maria Bello, Maggie Siff (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Mad Men”) and Maika Monroe (“It Follows”) co-star.
