'The Wave' packs satisfying thrills
Nothing much happens for the first 48 minutes of this Norwegian tsunami disaster thriller.
Then, a massive rockslide dumps a mountain of debris into the sea. Residents in the tourist town of Geiranger have nine minutes, 57 seconds to get their hineys 80 meters above sea level or kiss them all goodbye.
At this point, Norwegian director Roar Uthaug (yes, that really is his name) cranks his nifty little family survival thriller into something exciting and worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with classic 1970s Hollywood disaster movies such as "The Towering Inferno," "The Poseidon Adventure," "Earthquake" and "Airport."
But before we get to the good stuff - the surprisingly effective tsunami visual effects and lots of people fleeing for their lives - we must first wade through some by-the-numbers formula exposition, complete with the standard-issue raving harbinger of doom ignored both by his peers and the politicians not wanting to scare off the tourists.
He's Kristian Eikjord, played by Kristoffer Joner, a regular guy in the process of moving his family - dutiful wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp), adorable little daughter Julia (Edith Haagenrude-Sande) and brooding, skateboarding son Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) - to a new town where he's got a better paying job.
He just resigned as a geologist monitoring a mountain for signs of instability that could create a deadly tsunami. When alarms trip because of severed sensor cables, Kristian goes with a former co-worker to check out the mountain. (Apparently, officials don't worry about insurance and liability issues in Norway.)
Kristian is sure something awful might happen, but his old co-workers persuade him he's overreacting. These are the same people who, once they realize a major mountain crevice is contracting, go right out and climb down into the crevice.
Hey, the crevice is contracting!
Once "The Wave" hits, it splits up Kristian's family. He's with Julia, but Idun and Sondre are trapped in the local hotel's water-filling bomb shelter, conveniently equipped with non-electrocuting lights that appear to be mounted on the floor.
"The Wave" offers some tense moments to rival some of the underwater scenes in "The Poseidon Adventure." Even at its hokiest, "The Wave" conjures up nailbiter setups that pump life into the expected conventions of the genre.
At the beginning of "The Wave," foreshadowing news reports warn of at least 300 unstable Norwegian mountain tops ready to slide into the ocean at any moment.
That means there should be enough good material for at least 299 sequels for Uthaug to make.
<b>"The Wave" opens at the Century Centre in Chicago and the Renaissance Place in Highland Park. In Norwegian with subtitles. Rated R for language, disaster images. 104 minutes. ★ ★ ★ </b>
<b>Film critics notebook</b>
The After Hours Film Society presents "Mustang," an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove.
The drama concerns five adolescent sisters coming of age in a small Turkish town not quite prepared for the too-liberated young women. afterhoursfilmsociety.com.
Here's a treat for "Star Trek" fans. You can see the best of the "Star Trek" movies, "The Wrath of Khan," once again on the silver screen at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, at the Elk Grove Theater, 1050 Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights. The event is sponsored by the Chicago Film Critics Association with Classic Cinemas. CFCA member Patrick Bromley will introduce the feature and conduct a brief post-show Q&A. classiccinemas.com.
Join me and film historian Raymond Benson for Dann & Raymond's Movie Club, when we present "The Greatest Fight Scenes" ever put on film at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, 500 N. Dunton Ave., Arlington Heights. Free admission! Clips from such classics as "The Quiet Man," "King Kong" and others. Sorry, boxing movies and kung fu clichés do not qualify. See ahml.info.