Jason versus The Wave

On April 7, 1934, a rock slide triggered a tsunami that destroyed a Norwegian village, killing 40 people. Believe it. And two other similar Norwegian tragedies have claimed the lives of more than 100 others.

Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug (Cold Prey) has used these disasters as the basis for his latest flick, The Wave, a small-budget disaster picture that gives large-scale Hollywood blockbusters a serious run for their money. Yeah, I liked it. A lot.

The wife and I made The Wave our Sunday night date movie, and were not disappointed. When your chief complaint is the bad dubbing -- and that's the American distributor's fault -- you're in for a good time at the movies.

About half of The Wave is set up. We get to know our characters and genuinely like them. Sure, the disaster-movie cliches are here: main character knows disaster is pending and no one believes him, then WHAM! But I didn't mind, because I was engaged in the story and the people.

Uthaug wisely doesn't try to outdo Hollywood flicks like San Andres and Twister. Instead, he keeps the scale small. But he does such a good job of building up to the disaster, and we really like the characters, that The Wave packs far more of a punch than its bigger, glossier -- and dare I say shallower -- cousins from the good 'ole U.S. of A.

Oh, and the actors performed their own stunts. All of them. Mic drop.

The Wave is movie I intend to own. I want to see this with subtitles, and it's one I'll definitely throw in the player from time to time. If you can catch in in select theatres, or rent it on VOD as we did, it's well worth your time and money.

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