SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 100 Discussion - The Wave

[europe1]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info.

Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC.


Two Norwegian movies in the same cycle? First Trollhunter and now The Wave!? What's with this club anyways? Can't you people get enough of peaks and fjords?

Our Director​

​

Roar Uthaug is a Norwegian film director. He is best known for Fritt Vilt (2006), Flukt (2012), and The Wave (2015).

Uthaug was born in August 25, 1973. In 2002 he graduated from the Norwegian Film School. His director debut was Fritt Vilt in 2006.

In 2018 he directed the Tomb Raider reboot starring Alicia Vikander.

Our Star​

Kristoffer Joner: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0427379/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Film Overview and YouTube Videos​

Premise: Although anticipated, no one is really ready when the mountain pass above the scenic, narrow Norwegian fjord Geiranger collapses and creates an 85-meter high violent tsunami. A geologist is one of those caught in the middle of it.


Budget: $6 million
Box Office: $12.8 million

​

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)​

* The first disaster movie made in Norway and Scandinavia.

* Norway has about 5 mill. inhabitants and Vågen (2015) sold 832,649 admissions, therefore about every 6th Norwegian saw it in a cinema.

* Sold over 141.000 tickets in Norway on the first weekend of release, the 3rd best result ever for a Norwegian film.[2015]

* The film's basic premise is not fictional. The mountain is in constant motion and will fall, sooner or later. Director Roar Uthaug: "This will actually happen there one day. There is this crack in the mountainside out in the fjord, and it keeps expanding each year and at some point it will cause a huge rockslide into the fjord and they will have 10 minutes before the wave reaches Geiranger. So we wanted to stay true to the facts - to what geologists think will be the facts one day." [2016]

* Shot in Norway and Romania.

* A No.1 box office smash in Norway, it became the most successful movie of the year 2015 there.
Norway's official entry for the 'Best Foreign-Language Film' category at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016.

* It's coming a new movie (skjelvet) which is a prequel to Bølgen​

Members: @shadow_priest_x @europe1 @MusterX @Scott Parker 27 @the muntjac @Caveat @Cubo de Sangre @sickc0d3r @chickenluver @Strange King @FrontNakedChoke @Johnson @AndersonsFoot

 

[europe1]

I got to say, I think The Wave is probably one of the most unremarkable movies we've had in this club. It's just so... normal.

So we have this main character whom is the fjord-whisperer. He's tight with the mountains, you dig? He knows the Norwegian Independence Day is comming, y'all!

The beats in this movie are so familiar. It's really by the play-book and rather cliche.

* Sappy family-life with children-issue!

* Co-workers awkwardly tell him he's an ace-geologist!

* Last day on the job!

* Explaining theory to incredulous, unbelieving co-workers.

* "We can't sound the alarm due to the tourist season"! says the gruffy manager (could the shark from Jaws sue for infringement?)

* "The climbing harness can only hold one of us!"

* And as usual... it's those blasted teenagers and their idle hobbies that cause the most trouble.​

The music felt rather stock as well. But I guess it did a servicable job building tension. I guess I liked how the titular wave was spotlighted through the car side-mirror.


Yeah... I just can't think of much to say about this film. Unlike Trollhunter where I could understand 50% of the actors in the movie, in this I could understand next to no-one.

All-in-all, it wasn't bad or anything, just very standard and average.

 

[Guestx]

Weird, I didn't get a notification. . .

 

[europe1]

Weird, I didn't get a notification. . .

That's disconcerting.

Re-firing the bat-signal in case there's similar issues with anyone else.


@shadow_priest_x
@europe1
@MusterX
@Scott Parker 27
@the muntjac
@Caveat
@Cubo de Sangre
@sickc0d3r
@chickenluver
@Strange King
@FrontNakedChoke
@Johnson
@AndersonsFoot

Did it work now?

 

[Guestx]

That's disconcerting.

Re-firing the bat-signal in case there's similar issues with anyone else.


@shadow_priest_x
@europe1
@MusterX
@Scott Parker 27
@the muntjac
@Caveat
@Cubo de Sangre
@sickc0d3r
@chickenluver
@Strange King
@FrontNakedChoke
@Johnson
@AndersonsFoot

Did it work now?

I did get that one.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

wow. congrats on getting to 100 weeks guys -- surprised you've kept it going this long.

 

[Guestx]

wow. congrats on getting to 100 weeks guys -- surprised you've kept it going this long.

They said it couldn't be done. . .

 

[Guestx]

All right, The Wave. . .

This is one of those movies that I've been meaning to watch for a few years now. Being something of a disaster movie aficionado there aren't many that I have skipped, at least not ones that have been released in my lifetime. So it's good to get this one knocked out.

I've noticed that there are two kinds of disaster films, at least in regard to the disaster element: There are those where the disaster is a series of events, and then there are those where the disaster is a single event. In Twister, for instance, there are multiple tornadoes. As soon as you've escaped one there's another to deal with. But in The Wave, there is exactly that, one single wave that comes through and fucks shit up and the actual "attack," if you will, is over within minutes.

Since this is an example of the latter, there is a lot of build-up. Perhaps too much. I really think that for a movie like this you need a maximum of half an hour before the destruction starts, and this film drags the first act out for a solid 45 minutes. Eventually I started to feel like, "C'mon movie, you know what I came for so give it to me!" I do feel like the early part of the story does a good job of setting the mood, allowing us to get to know the characters, and increasing the sense of dread leading up to the big set piece, but it just goes on a little too long.

I have to say though, once the wave does actually arrive, it's impressive. From an effects standpoint, the movie is excellent. I really liked the design of the wave and thought it looked great, and there were also some practical effects in the hotel that I felt were very good.

After the wave hits we have the whole "I gotta go find my family!" sequence and that part I would call serviceable. I thought it was an interesting decision to kill off both the husband and wife after they risked themselves to help a stranger.

@europe1, I do agree with you that much of the film felt formulaic. I was particularly struck by the scene near the end where the father seemingly drowns. When they went to resuscitate him there's a moment where they give up, only to try one more time and steal him away from the grave. There is a scene that plays out almost EXACTLY like this in San Andreas, another disaster film that was released the very same year and which I watched just a few weeks ago, so it was almost like deja vu.

The only other thing I'll say is that it's interesting to compare the tone of this film to that of something like Twister or Armageddon. Certainly in comparison to those two--and most disaster films, really--The Wave takes itself very seriously. Perhaps too seriously. Because while I was watching it I was missing the lighter, more fun feel of its brethren.

All in all, I did enjoy it and thought it was a pretty well-made film. A paint-by-numbers script is married to A-level craftsmanship to render a movie that, while not perfect, I think generally works pretty well. I doubt I'll ever revisit this one, but I'm glad I watched it once.

Probably give it a 6.5.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Did it work now?

Not for me.

When they went to resuscitate him there's a moment where they give up, only to try one more time and steal him away from the grave. There is a scene that plays out almost EXACTLY like this in San Andreas, another disaster film that was released the very same year and which I watched just a few weeks ago, so it was almost like deja vu.

Reminded me of Abyss. Except far less powerful and kinda silly when dad could have drug his son that last little bit instead of this cheesy business of breathing his air into him. But yeah yeah, gotta sacrifice to save the kid.

I also didn't like how he miraculously survived getting caught in the way. If you can't write your way out of something in a movie then don't write your way in.

Overall, it was ok. I've just seen too many disaster movies to find anything particularly intriguing here.

 

[europe1]

at least not ones that have been released in my lifetime

Their original heyday were in the 70's with stuff like Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventures. Maybe it's time to explore the history of the genre?

I've noticed that there are two kinds of disaster films, at least in regard to the disaster element: There are those where the disaster is a series of events, and then there are those where the disaster is a single event. In Twister, for instance, there are multiple tornadoes. As soon as you've escaped one there's another to deal with. But in The Wave, there is exactly that, one single wave that comes through and fucks shit up and the actual "attack," if you will, is over within minutes.

That's why I like Virus (1980) so much. You get two almost completely unrelated disasters happening after one another! Global pandemic and nuclear annihilation. It's like the only movie I can think of that does that.

After the wave hits we have the whole "I gotta go find my family!" sequence and that part I would call serviceable.

It needed a "Grandma wading through acidic waters" scene ala Dante's Peak

I was particularly struck by the scene near the end where the father seemingly drowns. When they went to resuscitate him there's a moment where they give up, only to try one more time and steal him away from the grave.

Whenever I see a scene like that these days I'm reminded of how ungodly long the resuscitation scene was in The Abyss. It's like that movie wanted to proclaim itself the King of resuscitation scenes.

The Wave takes itself very seriously

Well the film puports to being very scientifically accurate. Especially since this is an actual plaussible scenario being filmed -- said town lying very close to an actual place where an huge landslide-come-tsunami is going to happen sooner or later. I guess a serious tone is required if you want to film an actually plausible senario.

That's why I think the comming prequel could be a lot more interesting. It dramatizes the footage that is seen in the begninning of this film, when the town was hit by another landslide and killed a multitude of people. Being set in the 50's could make it a lot less formulaic and fresh.

 

[europe1]

Not for me.

Whaaa?

Yo, @shadow_priest_x , did the previous one work for you? And does this one work for you?

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Whenever I see a scene like that these days I'm reminded of how ungodly long the resuscitation scene was in The Abyss. It's like that movie wanted to proclaim itself the King of resuscitation scenes.

It worked. That scene will choke me up every time. Ed Harris is fuckin' great in that film.

 

[Guestx]

Whaaa?

Yo, @shadow_priest_x , did the previous one work for you? And does this one work for you?

Both this one and the last one worked for me. The only one that didn't work was the one in the OP.

Did you by chance edit the tags in the OP after posting? Like, maybe they didn't work because you didn't have spaces between the names or something and you had to edit the post to get them right?

 

[europe1]

Did you by chance edit the tags in the OP after posting? Like, maybe they didn't work because you didn't have spaces between the names or something and you had to edit the post to get them right?

Nope. I copied it wholesale from how you did it.

It's especially weird that Cubo didn't get the second one since there I placed an entire row between the names.

If anyone else didn't get theirs -- let me know.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Wonder if I can tag myself?

@Cubo de Sangre


EDIT: No notification.

 

[Guestx]

I also didn't like how he miraculously survived getting caught in the way. If you can't write your way out of something in a movie then don't write your way in.

Not a bad a rule, regarding writing. Though I have to wonder if in real life there really would be no way to survive a situation like that, as you're implying.

Their original heyday were in the 70's with stuff like Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventures. Maybe it's time to explore the history of the genre?

Frankly, I'm not interested. I've watched some clips from some of those old films and it just didn't work for me at all.

It needed a "Grandma wading through acidic waters" scene ala Dante's Peak

I remember thinking that scene felt particularly gruesome when I first saw the film. Going into it, I didn't realize shit was going to get that intense.

That's why I think the comming prequel could be a lot more interesting. It dramatizes the footage that is seen in the begninning of this film, when the town was hit by another landslide and killed a multitude of people. Being set in the 50's could make it a lot less formulaic and fresh.

Is there really a prequel coming? I'm down for that. It will be interesting to see what they come up with for a second film.

BTW, apparently this film only had a $6 million budget, or at least that's what I read. How in the fuck do you make a film like this for $6 million?

 

[Guestx]

Wonder if I can tag myself?

@Cubo de Sangre


EDIT: No notification.

Pretty sure you can't tag yourself like that. When I would post the member list and include my name in it I would never get a notification.

 

[the muntjac]

For a movie about a disaster, it plays it way too safe. Nothing that happens in this movie is anything you haven’t seen before. It felt very routine. The only thing that really stood out to me was when the mom drowned that one dude. You mess with the lioness’ cub, you get the claws. At the end when the family reunites and are standing on the road, I pictured the son pulling the dad aside and saying, “So hey, mom killed a guy. Should we talk about this, or never bring it up again?”

I thought it was weird when the lady pushes the button to set off the alarm for the town, she seemed hesitant and unsure about it. She had two people screaming at her to do it, and she could see the mountain crumbling, yet that didn’t warrant any hustle from her? Was she afraid of missing?

The guy who played Arvid, who is pictured below as the guy standing with the mustache and vest...

...His name is Fridtjov Saheim, and he plays the wonderfully weasely Jan in the Netflix show Lilyhammer, which has some dumb writing, but it’s entertaining enough and has some pretty good characters, and Jan is easily the most memorable.

Back on topic and in conclusion, The Wave is pretty sterile and not all that exciting. I don’t think I’ll ever ride it out again.

 

[Guestx]

At the end when the family reunites and are standing on the road, I pictured the son pulling the dad aside and saying, “So hey, mom killed a guy. Should we talk about this, or never bring it up again?”

LOL. That's fucking hilarious.

It was kind of a raw deal for that couple all around. If they had stayed on the bus, they were dead. If they went back into the hotel, as they did, also dead. I guess when the grim reaper says your number's up that's just all there is to it.

As I was watching that scene though I had to reflect on how I might feel if it were me who had to do the killing. I'm sure that in the heat of the moment where I'm thinking it's this dude or my son, I would do it without hesitation. But afterward, I couldn't help but be affected by the fact that he was just a panicky guy who minutes before was risking his own safety to try to help me (albeit reluctantly).

 

[Guestx]

Whatever happened to @MusterX being the first in, last out on these discussion threads?