Film Review: Disaster is an Environmental Family Affair in ‘The Wave’

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – Last year, we witnessed the American disaster porn of “San Andreas,” an overwrought attempt to destroy California on film. Norway has an entry into the disaster genre – “The Wave” – and unlike the American special effects pile-on, it’s based on real possibilities, and features a family that won’t give up or give in.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

The film is two movies, pre-and-post the wave (tsunami) disaster, and the beginning is better and more tense than the post wave turmoil, but overall the film is absorbing in the way that all the better “what ifs” are. The Scandinavian emotions presented are much more pragmatic and less “heroic” – as would be seen in a modern American disaster movie. The depiction of the disaster is based on a real-world possibility, there are towns among some of high cliffs of Norway, and those cliffs are unstable (much like the relationships of the family in the film). For obtaining “Norwegian Wood,” there is nothing like a fine disaster picture.

Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) is on his last days at the Akneset mountain pass monitoring center, part of the Geiranger fjord. There he has analyzed data regarding the mountain, for in earlier times it had avalanched, and caused tsunami waves that destroyed the town of Geiranger itself (now a popular tourist destination). His wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp) is a hotel manager in the town, and is also preparing her family to move, once Kristian starts his new job.

The mountain is shored by manmade rods and sensors, and Kristian sees an abnormality that could trigger the wave. Their son Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) is staying at his mother’s hotel when the tsunami hits. They all survive, but they are separated. Kristian works to get to the inundated hotel, while Idun and Sondre are trapped in a underground shelter in the building. The father must get through the chaos to save the mother and son.


“The Wave” has a limited release, including Chicago, on March 4th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Ane Dahl Torp, Krisoffer Joner, Jonas Hoff Oftebro and Thomas Bo Larsen. Written by John Kare Raake and Harald Rosenlow-Eng. Directed by Roar Uthaug. Rated “R”

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Wave”

Kristoffer Joner
Run Away! Kristian (Kristoffer Joner, right) is About to Experience ‘The Wave’
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Wave”

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