Norwegian movies occasionally bring sleeper hit like the Troll Hunter, the wintry location is just perfect for things unknown. The Wave, while it may be strange to have on a mountain, is a good mix of visual cinematography, nice use of attractive vistas and simple yet engaging characters. The first act might feel a tad slow but the entirety is finely tuned compartmentalized sequences that fit together as good disaster movie.

The focus is mainly on a family of four on their last day in normally quaint city of Geiranger. Kritian (Kristoffer Joner) as the father is a geologist who admittedly too fixated on his job. Before they leave he spots some anomalies of the impending catastrophe. It's a predictable but still decent premise and while it starts rather slow, the time invested is used to familiarize audience with the characters and also the tourist attraction.

The Wave uses its setting very nicely, it capitalizes on the actual hotel and mountain, partially and understandably for promotional purpose. It's visually pleasing and involving scenery, better than most Hollywood attempts on the genre. For example, San Andreas doesn't feel as though viewer is engaged aside from excessive CG. This movie cleverly captures the essence of the place well.

It doesn't mean that there's a lack of special effect here, it's just used more appropriately. For those wanting a cool spectacle of force of nature, you won't be disappointed. Better yet, there are few scenes which really push the theatrical effect of human drama and graphical thriller so precisely, it's impressively daunting. Furthermore, audience would mostly likely relate to the family's ordeal more than investing on random calamity displays.

The Wave is a disaster movie done right, nearly every aspect of it come crashing down just at the right spot and time.

The film starts well. Nothing that hasn't been done before, but pretty well done for all that.

It then slips into the worst of disaster movie clichés (also applies to horror films) as the characters start behaving in increasingly idiotic ways.

A full two minutes after the sirens have gone off and the fire alarm is set off in the hotel, all of the guests are still holed up in their rooms. One of them sticks their head out of their room to ask, "Is this a drill?" Seriously? What sort of cretin would think a hotel has a fire alarm drill at 2 in the morning with all the town's sirens going off.

Then there's the clueless geologists. Only the protagonist seems to have a passing knowledge of what all the data means, despite red lights going off everywhere. Each time the readings suggest there might be something wrong the chief geologist dismisses it as probably an error with the sensors. I mean what's the point of having the equipment if you're not going to believe what it's telling you.

Even when the whole mountain collapses, the fantastically idiotic woman in the early warning centre doesn't think to raise the alarm. When she's finally told to sound the sirens, she stares at the red button for long seconds, get on with it you stupid cow.

Back in the town, the hotel's guests are now milling about in the lobby, the bus driver for some unfathomable reason doesn't want to drive them up the hill. Anyway, they all die, which is fine because they were too silly.

The hero's wife then needlessly kills a man who was needlessly freaking out at an extremely unhelpful time.

When the hero finally turns up to save his wife and son, the teenage doofus decides to stop swimming while underwater because he's short of breath, rather than kicking harder for the surface. So the hero gives him the kiss of life underwater and the son continues, while the hero now decides to give up, despite only having 10 feet further to go.

Simply abysmal, but I quite enjoyed the film.

THE WAVE is a decent example of the modern disaster genre, from Norway of all places. You might think that Norway isn't exactly a country prone to great disasters, but this film shows you otherwise. The tale is about the shifting of mountain and how it can lead to an avalanche and a subsequent tsunami due to displaced lake water. First off, I'll be plain here: THE WAVE is no masterpiece. The storyline is entirely predictable and there's a little too much sentimentality surrounding the main characters. Some of them, like the skateboarding kid, are entirely dumb and undeserving of the viewer's care. Occasionally the writing will feel very obvious and forced, like adding extra characters to the narrative simply for the purpose of killing them off when the going gets rough, although tons of things are guilty of the same fault (even GAME OF THRONES).

Other than that, this is a solid piece of entertainment and a very well made film. I found the first half, which is all set up, actually more gripping than the disaster clichés of the latter part. The cinematography is excellent and brings an astounding landscape to life. The attention to scientific detail keeps the story fresh and engaging. Krisoffer Joner - who previously wowed me with an entirely different role in KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND - is fine as the scientist and family man. The second part of the film is more ordinary, although still very watchable. The special effects were much lauded but I found the CGI to be a bit over the top although it's certainly adequate for what it is and Hollywood could have done no batter. The latter parts of the story play out as you'd expect but nonetheless continue to entertain.