The Wave

The Wave turned out to be visually superior and far better in storytelling than most stoner thrillers out there. Justin Long's the perfect choice to play Frank, a white-collar employee who's out for a night of merry-making with his colleague Jeff (Donald Faison). They meet Natalie (Katia Winter) and Theresa (Sheila Vand) at a bar and decide to head to a rave party. A drug he consumes at the party sends him on an unending trip that bends the concept of time (and eventually, decisions). The storyline gets a little convoluted in the latter half with several twists, but the screenplay (by Carl W. Lucas) wraps it up quite neatly in the end.

The 'drug trip' for Frank begins with intermittent hallucinatory episodes, making you think this is yet another film that holds a warning sign for people to never do drugs. However, it focuses more on its psychedelic visuals, a missing-person storyline (I think I'm in love with Sheila Vand!), and some not-bad humor along the way. On the downside, the subplots involving Frank's promotion (the evil insurance company cliché) and his wife walking out on him don't carry the narrative weights they should. These incidents, while pivotal to the main plot (of Frank, Jeff, and Natalie searching for the missing Theresa), somehow feel less consequential.

When you look at the complete picture, I felt The Wave tries to incorporate too much into its 90-minute runtime and succeeds in parts. That said, the amusement factor was certainly on the higher side for me.

Decent and creative movies centered around psychadelic drugs and the sensations, phenomenons they bring, are a rarity, or at least it feels so. As I've always taken a lot of interest in the world of a psychonaut, I'm always looking out for movies like this - "The Wave" basks in the right bowl, though being much more sci-fi than anything else. It has the goods, it has the flaws, it's certainly a huge effort by everyone involved.

"The Wave" is a very lively, tightly made movie, during its first half you can sit back and enjoy the filmmakers' awesome artistry in which wrapped in are a lot of awesome suquences, some of them can even induce anxiety & all of them amuse and entertain. The humour is decent & the acting performances, honestly, frickin rock, Justin Long works up an effortful and tense lead. My favorite highlight most definitely is Tommy Flanagan as the mysterious drug aficionado Aeolus, but I have to say that literally every supporting character is as fun and vivid as the movie itself. Aesthetically "The Wave" is a hoot, dynamic, inventive, visibly full of creative technical solutions and enthusiasm. The problem with this considerably well hitting wave is the story it brings - the first half continues to add awesome stuff on more awesome stuff, seemingly building something bigger only to end up nowhere in the end. I theorise that it has a few anologies about the effects of recreational drugs like shrooms and LSD, the ego death, acknowledgment of one's flaws and the ultimate acceptance and sense of humanity. "The Wave" also has time travel and no explanation for most of its story, so that's that.

At first, "The Wave" appears fresh, different and very promising, but it has flaws - lack of substance, sort of botched ending and more - that are quite successfully hid (for some time) behind a commendable team effort and a very fun movie. Recommend for the lovers of all things trippy. My rating: 7/10.

A young corporate attorney who specializes in cutting people out of insurance payouts finds a case that will save his company a lot of money. He has to present his idea the next morning, so his friend talks him into going out on a bender to celebrate the night before.

What begins to unwind is a nonlinear time jump adventure from what seems to be reality to full blown "Bardo" style hallucinations.

Well done in that it's not predictable, and doesn't explain everything: you get to figure it out for yourself.

Some super intense scenes, so not a movie for the faint of heart.

Also, a fantastic performance by Justin!

The film is about letting the universe steer your consciencenss like a wave through your own perception of 'reality'.

It explores several ideas, not so well in my opinion, though it deserves credit for trying.

It's worth a watch if you seek ideas that are out of the box and because there is a modicum of wisdom, wrapped in a candy coating.

The Wave is an interesting film starring Justin Long as a relatively square insurance broker who takes a powerful unknown hallucinogenic and as a result of this, experiences some pretty frightful hallucinations which are deftly portrayed and are intensely believable. However, even though the hallucinations are portrayed as well as you could expect from a B movie, it isn't without its sticking points.

What lets this film down is the execution of the storyline. While the overarching plot of the film is a relatively coherent one, the film muddily flits from one aspect of the story to the other, never making the film quite as believable as it could or should have been. The Wave allows too many loose ends, and the ending instead of completing the plot asks more questions than answers. Overall this is a decent film with some intense and intriguing scenes, however the execution of these themes lets the film down.