It's a scary story to tell about the tiny Norwegian village of Geiranger, which looks threatened when the neskneset mountain path drops and blows a violent tsunami more than 80 meters long. It may be a dangerous time race because there is only 10 minutes to escape the disaster. In just 10 minutes, the villagers must escape into the mountains before being wiped out by a wave that could destroy everything.
The movie works; the setting feels grandly unfamiliar, and the aftermath of the wave, with its elemental mix of water and fire, seems like a plausible vision of Hell.
The Wave, based on some actual rockslides from decades ago, may try for a little bit of respectability, but it doesn't have much to say, and then says it in a somber closing credits: Watch out for rockslides, basically.
As a good, old-fashioned hunk of big-screen disaster, you could do a lot worse than The Wave, say last year's far more expensive and less involving San Andreas.
Something like The Wave is indeed a rarity - without skimping on the spectacle that glues eyeballs to the screen, it takes the time to develop its characters.
he three principal actors are charming and Norwegian movies can always be counted on for sublime scenery -- even when that scenery turns malevolent -- but boy is this thing cliche-ridden and predictable!
