Overview
A race against nature unfolds as a geologist fights to save his family from impending doom.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- tense
- foreboding
- visceral
- disaster movie night
- thriller marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film to be a well-acted, visually impressive, and unusually humanistic disaster thriller that uses familiar genre conventions effectively.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The tsunami crisis is grounded in Kristian's efforts to protect Idun, Sondre, and Julia rather than treating catastrophe as spectacle alone.
The geological warning, imminent mountain collapse, and shrinking evacuation window establish a clear race against time.
The Geiranger fjord's dramatic landscape is presented as both beautiful tourist territory and the source of an enormous tsunami.
Kristian's expertise as a geologist directly identifies and interprets the destabilizing mountain and resulting wave.
Films like The Wave, and why
The Impossible
shared disaster-film structure, humanistic family focus, escalating natural peril, and grounded survival suspense
Deep Impact
shared large-scale natural catastrophe, family-in-peril storyline, emotional urgency, and practical-feeling spectacle
Dante's Peak
shared geologic disaster premise, race-against-time suspense, ensemble survival drama, and destructive visual effects
The Quake
shared Scandinavian disaster setting, restrained realism, claustrophobic danger, and family-centered thriller mechanics
Movie Details
- Director
- Roar Uthaug
- Release Date
- 2015-08-28
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (1464)
Cast
- Kristoffer Joner
- Ane Dahl Torp
- Jonas Hoff Oftebro
- Edith Haagenrud-Sande
- Fridtjov Såheim
- Laila Goody
- Arthur Berning
- Herman Bernhoft
- Eili Harboe
- Silje Breivik
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Magnolia Selects Amazon Channel, Monsters and Nightmares Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, FlixFling
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, FlixFling
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Wave about?
- A Norwegian geologist races through a collapsing fjord town to save his family from a devastating tsunami triggered by a mountain landslide.
- What is The Wave like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Wave as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Wave violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Wave as mild.
- What did critics think of The Wave?
- Critics broadly found the film to be a well-acted, visually impressive, and unusually humanistic disaster thriller that uses familiar genre conventions effectively.
- Which films are like The Wave?
- Films with a similar feel include The Impossible, Deep Impact, Dante's Peak, and The Quake.
- How long is The Wave?
- The Wave runs 105 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Wave?
- In United States, The Wave streams on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Magnolia Selects Amazon Channel, Monsters and Nightmares Amazon Channel.
