38
It sketches an imperiled family worth caring about, but any goodwill is soon weathered by wave after wave of contrivance following the initial town-leveling event.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
75
St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Calvin Wilson
If you think foreign films can’t compete with Hollywood when it comes to delivering popcorn entertainment, prepare to be carried away by The Wave.
70
Screen International by David D'Arcy
It’s a jolting race against time when the wave gathers steam far away, as implacable as the tsunami in Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, minus the pop metaphysics .
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
Though they have little to add to familiar genre themes, Uthaug and the screenwriters make the most of the unique location, which lends itself to jaw-dropping vistas from every camera angle.
63
The Wave, competent as it is, lacks the heart-rending power of the similar 2012 tsunami movie “The Impossible.”
83
The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo
The movie isn’t afraid to go to some dark places.
60
The Wave sticks mostly to the big-studio formula (albeit on a much smaller budget), introducing a handful of bland soon-to-be-victims before bombarding them with spectacular digital effects.
50
It follows the lead of more recent Hollywood disaster movies like “2012” and “The Impossible.” It features just one family; everyone else is part of the scenery.
63
You’ll want to catch The Wave because it’s fun to see Hollywood disaster movie cliches rendered in Norwegian.
63
Washington Post by Stephanie Merry
The human scale of this story about a very real threat to one Norwegian village makes the movie more tragic and also more chilling.