Den tredje vågen

I bought "Third Wave" for 3 € and did not expect too much. But surprisingly this movie was really fun to watch!

The start is a little to slow but after that the movie is fast and full of action. Of course one should not expect the sort of action scenes one can find in Casino Royale or any Hollywood blockbuster. But these realistic action scenes do add to the tension the movie creates. The many changes of location didn't seem to be in the movie just for the sake of it as it appears in many Hollywood action movies within the beginning.

The acting wasn't over the top but the actors still did a good job. Maybe it just felt that way coz I watched the German dubbed version.

The one thing I did not like that much was the ending. The final just takes a little too long and seems exaggerated - (Especially as I am German and I wonder what people will think of the situation in Munich after having seen this movie,haha!)

All in all a very good movie though!

This is quite a fascinating movie. These days it came as add-on with TVmovie magazine (Germany), which lowers the threshold to get it for EUR 3.50.

It's documented as a Swedish/Finnish co-production. I didn't see a Finnish angle, but the Swedish is strong, even though the movie hardly ever plays in Sweden: the hero and family, as well as Rebecca the heroine, and Sellberg the short-lived commander, and the female officer in Göteborg, all come from there.

Action happens in UK, Netherlands, Germany, going south (from Swedish point of view) ever more. And going badder. "There's no place like home" (Sweden: for feeling secure, or burying commanders), and all other Europe is a battleground between toothless Europol and privatized security firm EuroSec (which in London has 20 times worth the equipment of City Police).

I felt scared by the seemingly uncontrollable powers of EuroSec (and their runaways). If this corporate security firm can overwhelm police, a fundamental concept breaks away. In the end, the bad guys lose. But will something like this happen again? You bet...

Certainly not a perfect movie, but very thought-provoking. The Munich riot was over-the-top, as mentioned before, but seems to get closer to the reality of EU/G8/... summits (rubber bullets are still only discussed, but not used by German police yet). I can at least recommend this to European viewers: a decent action movie with deeper context.

I've just seen this movie tonight on Melbourne's SBS TV channel and had to see what others had thought of it (a pity the professional reviews are all in languages other than English). No matter. While it took a while for the plot to get going, I was engrossed from the beginning. It's great to see non-Hollywood actors (who can also act) in a good movie. For me, seeing unfamiliar faces in a thriller/drama adds to its impact, which doesn't often happen when I see so-called Hollywood "stars" who just can't forget their "star" quality... (eg Cage, Cruise).

Some of the events in The Third Wave relied a little too much on coincidence to be believable, especially toward the end. And the Munich riots in the last section were rather "over the top" (I thought I was watching 28 Days Later at one point) - it was reassuring to read others' comments that such wild behaviour wasn't typical of protests in Munich.

Nevertheless I was totally involved - I initially didn't have a clue who was to be trusted (thanks to a good script) - and the film's overall quality warranted my forgiving its unlikely coincidences.

The top-budget Swedish movie of all time- "The third wave", with a budget of ~35 million SEK (errh some $4.5 million...) scores well for a Swedish action movie. It's predecessors is among the top of the later years' movies and "Third wave" continues the work of art. Jacob Eklund is as before excellent in his role as Johan Falk, we have a tight script and the plot is both interesting and somewhat applicable to reality. Of course there are some flaws, and the storyline gets a little messy at times, but overall I was very satisfied and I am happy that the capacity is there for making high-class movies although the budgets compared to US numbers are substantially smaller. it also proves that money does not equal quality. 8/10

The movie takes "organized crime" as topic and is very up to date. If you read Jean Ziegler's book (published 1998 in Geneva - I don't know the original or the English title), you know what the film is talking about. It is about the modern form of economics, the modern way to make money: by stealing taxes, using capital markets, tax havens, private police forces... the main "Baddie" studied at the London School of Economics. Obviously it was there where he learnt to make money by stealing power from the people or democratic governments, using corrupt banks and secret accounts.

The film uses the struggle of grassroots movements and NGO's as a background: the end of the film takes part WITHIN a demonstration against globalization, which takes place in Munich, the city of the REAL annual "NATO Security Conference" - annual demonstrations included. While the movie describes properly the mechanism of the modern capital markets - organized crime being a regular part of them - the Munich demonstrations are not shown correctly. I live nearby and watch them each year. There is much more police, which is armed heavier, and which is the only violent force on the streets, always being able to suppress any non-peaceful protest. Violent protest, as shown in the film, is not possible in Munich. During the Nato Conference, Munich seems to be a totalitarian Banana Republic. And there is absolutely no way to get near the conference hotels, if you are not invited. Believe me, the demonstrators try it each year...

But the capital markets are not affected. What the film is not telling you - as it is first and foremost an action movie: the problem are not certain human beings, who are criminals: the problem is the structure of the system (capital markets), which allows criminal behavior - which even DEMANDS criminal behavior to be successful. In this system you have to choose between having success or having moral values.