Directed by Roar Uthaug (Cold Prey; Escape; Magic Silver) and starring Kristoffer Joner (The Revenant; King of Devil's Island), Ane Dahl Torp (Dead Snow; Cold Lunch; Pioneer; The Sandhamn Murders (TV Series)) and Fridtjov Såheim (The Art of Negative Thinking; Cold Prey 2; Fallen Angels)
Thriller, 105 mins, in Norwegian, 15+
Starting off with archive shots from when a landslide resulted in a local tsunami with a 62-metre-high wave killing 40 people in Tafjord in 1934, The Wave highlight was will happen again one day.
This fictional dramatisations is as good a disaster movie as you will get; while it uses some CGI to great effect, it is kept in moderation. The storyline is based around Kristian Eikjord (Kristoffer Joner) and his wife Idun Karlsen (Ane Dahl Torp) and their two children. Kristian is a geologist and works locally where the family has grown up - his wife work in the local hotel - they decide to move to Stavanger as Kristian has accepted a job with a large oil multinational. However, during his last day at work at the local geological survey station, some strange readings are observed.
The boss, Arvid (Fridtjov Såheim) does not want to "cry wolf" so he and Kristian abseil down a crevice which is being monitored. They find two sensors have been severed and Kristian tries to convince them that the signs are there for an avalanche of rock into the fjord, and therefore triggering a tsunami with a 60-metre-migh wave which would engulf the town.
The film shows the relationship Kristian has with his wife and two children Sondre and Julia, and the decisions with which he is faced when disaster strikes. There are a number of other characters involved too in sub-plots, and the audience is concerned with what happens to both the entire town and occupants of the hotel, as well as to Kristian and his family.
The musical score goes a long way to capture the severity of the situation and to convey urgency and doom in equal measure. While there are a couple of clichéd moments, these do not take away from the gripping drama that unfolds on the big screen.
