‘The 5th Wave’ Trailer: Chloe Moretz Tries to Survive the Alien Apocalypse

A couple of weeks ago we saw the first trailer for The 5th Wave, the upcoming film based on the acclaimed YA novel by Rick Yancey. That trailer wasn’t the actual official trailer, which has arrived today, offering us a better idea of what the latest YA adaptation is all about. Like many, this one envisions a dystopia caused by an apocalyptic event, and like many, this one features a young woman in the lead role. But this time it’s Chloe Moretz.

Moretz finally gets a YA movie (and potential franchise?) of her own with The 5th Wave, in which she plays a teenager who is trying to survive following a series of horrific alien attacks on the planet. The film does unfortunately offer the stereotypical YA love triangle, but perhaps (hopefully) there’s more to that bit of the plot than meets the eye. The Hunger Games films took the pesky, soapy love triangle from the novels and transformed it into something subversive, so maybe The 5th Wave will take a page from Katniss’ handbook.

The 5th Wave title refers to the “waves” of alien attacks — first they take our electricity, then they decimate our natural environment, then they unleash a crippling plague, and then they invade. The fifth wave is the total elimination of the human race:

In the new film The 5th Wave, four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. As she prepares for the inevitable and lethal 5th wave, Cassie teams up with a young man who may become her final hope – if she can only trust him.

The 5th Wave also stars Jurassic World’s Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Liev Schreiber, Maika Monroe, Maria Bello and Alex Roe, and hits theaters on January 15, 2016.