Raz de marée: Alerte sur la côte

This made-for-TV drama is near being a disaster itself. The story line is just not believable enough to get very excited about. The CGI tsunamis look cool, but not fearsome. When destructive tidal waves put the coast of California in harm's way; retired weapons expert and Nobel Prize winner John Wahl(Corbin Bernsen)is suspected of instigating the peril. Oceanographer Jessica Weaver(Julianne Phillips)is about the only one in the scientific community to feel differently and offers to help Wahl prove his innocence.

Bernsen does the best he can; and Phillips is definitely nice to look at. The two are just not enough to make this movie any better than it is. Rounding out the cast are: Harve Presnell, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Gregg Henry, who is so easy to dislike. The surf may be up; but the urge to hit the beach is just not there.

Tidal Wave: No Escape begins with two tidal waves or tsunamis which seemingly coincidentally strike one after the other. One in Japan and one in the U.S. It is later learned that they were most likely man made and it soon becomes apparent when the man behind the waves demands 1 billion dollars. The only question to those in the movie, who are constantly pointing their fingers at the wrong guy, is who is really causing the tidal waves and how? We, the viewers, are let in on the perpetrator pretty early, so very little guess work is involved for us. This is more of a sit back and enjoy the special effects without using your brain type of movie.

Speaking of the special effects, how can they be so good and so bad at the same time? The tidal waves themselves were awesome. Having never even seen a picture of a real tidal wave before it crashes, this looked pretty realistic to me. So how they managed to create a giant wave that wreaks havoc through a few cities and why they need an obvious blue screen on other shots make the movie so horribly sub-par.

Corbin Bernsen, Julianne Phillips and Gregg Henry star here, but that really does not matter. The movie and these roles were so one dimensional, that nearly anyone could have played them. Gregg Henry should have steered clear entirely because he is a better actor than required here, as he displayed in Payback. This is definitely one for the special effects only. 6/10

This is another installment of a genre of movies in which the protagonist and eventual hero is falsely accused at first, usually by being set up. The movie Killer Wave is rather similar. These movies are good enough to watch, but usually have annoying parts to them. It all comes clean in the end, but the authorities that won't listen don't always get the karma they should.

I didn't realize that this ultra low budget laugher was made in 1997 when Corben Bernsen did his best to hold in that burgeoning midriff. He looked truly miserable in the wetsuit surfing scenes riding some scary 2 foot swells. Obviously those were not the tidal waves. I can understand as the cast was saddled with one of the worst screenplays ever, silly junk science gibberish and cheesy effects. The only actors to phone in credible performances were Harve Presnell as the hilariously over-the-top Snidely Whiplash-ish Stanley Schiff who was making the tidal waves happen and Colby the dog, who sadly gets snuffed out by a tidal wave.

The ending could of been better, much better. The special effects were OK. I would not buy this movie at all. It might be good if you just rent it. It might be a good sleeper for some people. NOW, to all the disaster movie people (people who like disaster movies) you might want to see it. I am one of those but the movie was OK.