Roar Uthuag's Cold Prey

This fiction about a Norwegian family trying to survive a destructive 300-foot tsunami caused by the fall of a bulky portion of a mountain into a fjord, provides us with one or two unsettling moments but never breathes the indispensible fresh air to avoid being considered a standard.
Standing slightly above the most Hollywood productions of the same genre, “The Wave” deserves merit whenever renders claustrophobic atmospheres, but it’s not so strong when it comes to the drama itself, which proved slick and too familiar.

Roar Uthuag (“Cold Prey”, “Escape”), directing from a script by John Kare Raake and Harald Rosenlow-Eeg, explores a real possibility - there’s currently 30 unstable mountains in Norway - and gives wings to his imagination.
The family had planned to spend their last night there, before setting off the next morning. Scarily, nothing happens as imagined because Julia makes his dad taking her to their old house to say goodbye, exactly when minutes later it’s confirm that a massive landslide fell in the fjord, giving the inhabitants only 10 minutes to go up 80 meters above the sea level and avoid the damaging impact of a gigantic wave. To worsen the situation, Sondre resolves to vanish from his hotel room, dragging his mother into a desperate search that makes them to miss the bus to salvation.
With the family apart, the film feels like a copy-paste of stereotypes, relying not only on some noble actions of aid and generosity, but also on afflictive instants of panic caused by being trapped in confined places, in the eminence of drowning.

“The Wave”, bolstered with consistent performances, an intimidating musical score, and a heart-rending scheme may allure viewers agog with the power of a natural calamity over a tiny village. Nevertheless, the acceptable moments of tension never surpass the real lack of surprise and