“The Hunger Games” movies have run their course, and the “Maze Runner,” “Divergent” and “Giver” film franchises haven’t lived up to their full potential. That’s horrible news if you’re a young teenage girl hoping to see another beloved YA book series up on the big screen.

Enter “The 5th Wave,” adapted from Rick Yancey’s best-selling novel and hoping to be the next big thing in movies. Unfortunately, teenagers are going to be disappointed once again, as the film that hits theaters this weekend struggles with uneven plotting, mediocre special effects and a surprisingly leaden screenplay.

The titular “Waves” refer to an alien invasion of Earth and the waves of destruction visited upon humanity. First the aliens knock out the power, then they let massive earthquakes and tsunamis destroy our cities. The third wave decimates the remaining population with a virus, and then the aliens, known as “Others” assume human form and begin picking off the last survivors.

It would be a spoiler to reveal the identity of the fifth wave, but it’s not too difficult to guess what’s about to happen while watching the film.

Director J Blakeson rushes through the first few waves of annihilation in order to get to the point where his teenage heroes have a chance to do something more than just run away from computer-generated disaster effects. Unfortunately, the film’s momentum screeches to a halt once we get into the meat of the story. Our young heroine, Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz) gets bogged down in a charisma-free romantic subplot. That’s understandable given the horrific dialogue that the characters are forced to speak.

Things do pick up when Cassie resumes her quest to find her younger brother (Zachary Arthur), but not so much that anybody in the theater will be clamoring to see the rest of this trilogy.

To be fair, I saw this film with my 15-year-old niece, who has been excited about “The 5th Wave” since last July. She enjoyed the film and was even okay with the romantic subplot but was troubled by just how much of the book was cut from the film. The ride back home was a non-stop barrage of all the cool stuff that didn’t make it into the movie.

She is the litmus test for this movie. “The 5th Wave” isn’t meant to appeal to cranky old film critics, but rather to those young teenagers who devoured the first two novels. Using my highly-scientific survey of three teenage girls (I overheard another girl talking to her friend as they exited the theater), “The 5th Wave” has just enough familiar elements to make fans of the book into mild fans of the movie.

Non-fans and older audiences will be left scratching their heads and wondering what all the fuss is about.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and seen weekly on KFDM and KBTV. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@sbgtv.com.com.