No one’s trying to reinvent the wheel in this well-made disaster pic from . . . wait for it, Norway. No post-modern flips, no political allegory, not an ironic thought in its head, just a suspense-filled three-acts. (Will the research team believe the statistics guy on his last day on the job? Will the guy’s family survive the upcoming rock avalanche triggered fiord tsunami? (A fiord tsunami! Cool!) Will the tourist bus aiming for higher ground be a lifesaver or a death trap? You get the idea. Cleanly handled by director Roar Uthaug whose #1 priority is to keep things from turning dumb (√); and whose second is to control the crumbling rock/rushing-waters CGI effects rather than have them control him. (√) The vibe less EARTHQUAKE!/’74 than POSEIDON ADVENTURE/’72 which means heroic lead Kristoffer Joner gets both the Gene Hackman and the Shelley Winters spots. Plus, the first big cast film in ages where you wait fifteen minutes for someone to show up without piercing blue eyes. Norway don’tcha know.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: As mentioned, EARTHQUAKE! and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/10/earthquake-1974.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/poseidon-adventure-1972.html
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK: That mountain fissure a real thing BTW, Norway’s equivalent to California’s San Andreas Fault. But the writers miss a trick at the end by not having the family deciding that even after a double disaster they really can’t get the mountains out of their system and plan to stay and rebuild. Cue swelling music . . . or maybe have everyone march up the mountain path singing SAN FRANCISCO. You can check that finale out for yourself. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/san-francisco-1936.html
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