The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

London Film Festival 2015

The Wave

London Film Festival 2015: The Wave | Review
13 October 2015
J A Clarke
Avatar
J A Clarke
13 October 2015

Movie and show review

J A Clarke

The Wave

★★★★★

Links

FacebookWebsite

Special event

Making geology sexy is the order of the day in new Norwegian disaster movie The Wave, a high-action thriller which explores the effect of a possible tsunami on a small coastal tourist town.

Spectacular fjords and mountains form the backdrop to the Eikfjord family home. Geologist father Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) and mother Idun (Ane Dahl Torp) have decided to leave their immeasurably beautiful village idyll – a place so beautiful one might weep looking out of the kitchen window – so that Kristian can take a higher-paying urban job working for an oil company. Cue friendly jesting from his friends about how capitalists dress in suits and ties, unlike rugged, blue collar geologists. The couple’s two children – a teenage son and a young daughter – are well-balanced and happy, their marriage is good and they have many friends. From the outset, it is obvious that the audience will not be left pondering the subtleties of right and wrong in director Roar Uthaug’s entertaining but uncomplicated thriller.

In fact, despite the Norwegian language and setting, The Wave takes the traditional Hollywood disaster movie template and reproduces it in full. With the exception of the parents, nearly every adult in the film has a risible ignorance of their own mortality, either standing about helplessly until someone tells them to run away, or panicking to such a degree that they actively impede the survival of everyone else. Nobody listens to everyman Kristian when he warns of impending rockslides. Ah, says the audience; I know this tune. The influence of 1990s disaster blockbusters is palpable.

Well-worn tropes aside, the performances are strong and it’s refreshing to see actors with the odd line or wrinkle in the heroic roles for a change. The disaster scenes are satisfyingly large-scale and make good use of the night-time setting to add tension and atmosphere, with dark, jagged peaks, fog and streaming clouds of later scenes contrasting well against the earlier romance of blue waters and rocky green ridges.

The Wave is never boring, with a fast pace, an easily-followed storyline, and judiciously applied CGI artfully limited to the rock-and-water devastations of the film’s enjoyably colossal action shots. Despite its familiar feel, this is a fun film, with a solid share of thrills and nail-biting suspense.

★★★★★

J A Clarke

The Wave does not have a UK release date yet.

For further information about the 59th London Film Festival visit here, and for more of our coverage visit here.

Related ItemsLFF 2015reviewThe Wave

More in Film festivals

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

“I think I’m kind of a drug addict for image and sound coming together! I’m always putting images to sound and getting high”: An interview with Hlynur Pálmason, director of Godland

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Watcher

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Resurrection

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Sharp Stick

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

Leyla’s Brothers: An interview with Saeed Roustayi

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Plan 75: An interview with director Chie Hayakawa

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Falcon Lake: An interview with director Charlotte Le Bon

Selina Sondermann
Read More

“How to make a genuine portrait of life”: An interview with the stars of Leila’s Brothers

Selina Sondermann
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

J A Clarke

The Wave

★★★★★

Links

FacebookWebsite

Special event

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Tips for creating a peaceful home
    Feature of the week
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Five Days at Memorial
    ★★★★★
    apple
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

London Film Festival 2015: The Lobster | Review
London Film Festival 2015: ChemSex | Review