Tunnelen

It's Norway during the Christmas season. Snowplows are clearing the road after a snow storm. A fuel truck gets stuck deep inside a long tunnel. Traffic is backed up and then the truck explodes.

This is a Norwegian disaster movie. I actually like most the part right before the fire. There is a sense of tension as the anticipation of the big explosion mounts. The issue with the fire is the smoke. It makes everything hard to see. The movie does a poor job laying out the map despite its simplicity. I just don't know where that anybody is located. It seems like a simple idea to back up slowly. At first, these guys are driving like maniacs and then they just don't try. Sadly, it's not like the audience can see much even if they do try. The first half has too much back story for these characters and the second half is not compelling enough. As such, it's a passable disaster movie.

This film had promise with the beautiful snowy Norwegian landscapes and claustrophobic tunnel setting but unfortunately it's just incredibly dull. Looks like Daylight will continue to reign supreme in the niche tunnel-based disaster genre.

It starts a little slow, but then something happens inside the tunnel. In the beginning the movie works well, but then the rescue begins. Orders are given from people in charge, but everybody is doing the excact opposite! I mean EVERYONE!!! Its just completely destroying the movie, because its so annoying. And the "hero" is way over the top.... One scene where he ends up crawling... Oh my god! Many many people dies in the tunnel...... But who cares? The people we follow only cares for themselves... Bringing a lot of people in great danger, and deaths, because they disobey orders. Its just stupid and annoying because the story is good.

Technically this is not badly done; lighting, pacing, acting, effects are all good value for the budget.

BUT honestly it feels like a movie put together by an AI... Take the formula for this sort of movie since at least the 70s (various disparate individuals in trouble, some family conflict, some stupid behavior, some heroic behavior) and just transplant it to Norway.

It's raised ever so slightly above the average by the scenes of how traffic control works from the inside, but there are far too few of these. I kept thinking of how someone like Aaron Sorensen (for all his predictability) could have made it so much better, with constant small speeches and explanations between the various characters saying things like "we do it this because in the fire at xyx in 2006 such and such and happened." It's adding in this background texture, not just plot but a feeling that you understand some of why the system works as it does, that makes a movie like this better than a thousand similar movies...

I came across this title while discussing a chapter about Disaster Management with my daughter for her exams. I asked her to check out Stallone's Daylight n this movie caught my attention cos of the similarities. To be honest, it is not that great, ther aint any big star cast, no fancy special effects but somehow i enjoyed it.