Killer Wave

As soon as I read the synopsis of this movie I knew I had seen it many years ago only it was called Tidal Wave: No Escape" where an oceanographer named John is pulled in by FBI to help a company led by a man he despises to investigate freak tidal waves happening all over the world caused by nuclear warheads and it turns out a man named Stanley was the one doing it... I watch Killer Wave and think, this is just a longer and more drawn out version of the same story, same characters, with worse effects and no originality. If you want to watch the same movie but in half the time, watch "Tidal Wave: No Escape". Be disappointed either way.

"Killer Wave" was shown in Two-2hr time slots, so I recorded these so I could watch them together. I find that most TV movies of this length lose any rhythm when watched on multiple nights and, of course, broken by commercials. With that condition, I enjoyed it. I found the story interesting and the production good. It would be a movie that most family members could watch, although younger viewers are often wanting the special effects and impact of 'big-budget' movies.

Parts of the movies are predictable, but I found those occasions something to smile at since I recognized the idea before they happened. I was disappointed that the few fight scenes came off poorly -- this plot doesn't need a lot of them, and the didn't overdue them -- just not the quality we expect these days.

Overall, good for a TV movie. Worth watching, but I probably would not watch it a second time.

...this may have the worst science. (And that takes some doing!) Nothing in here makes sense, but I'd be willing to watch it anyway, despite the one-dimensional characters and non-science, but it falls apart even taken on its own terms. I'll pick out various problems, in no particular order:

There are deadly dull moments, far too many of them for the genre. Nobody coordinated accents, so while it seems it might be taking place in Canada most times (it's not supposed to be, but the news reporter they keep flashing to in cliché shots is clearly Canadian), every accent was different than every other one. Hire a dialog coach! You know a "thriller" movie has lost you when you start thinking "Why am I watching Tom Skerritt peel a tangerine, and why can't he peel faster?" And some of the cuts and angles on faces are very weird--did they think that would disguise that we were watching five minutes of talking heads? Why did the hero wander through a crowd of policemen holding his photo just to say "hi" to a neighbor and immediately leave? Am I supposed to think that's drama? And what were the goofy villains' goals? Never did catch that.

I fell asleep at minute 160 or so, and I have no desire to go back and catch the last 15.

If you can put aside the dodgy CGI and some poor acting from the B rated actors who are all gunning for an Oscar, then this film isn't bad.

Great story with a well-believable conspiracy theory that you could belief in real life and that is it's strength.

Two parts to the mini-series which is worth a watch.

There are so many movies of this ilk out there often played daily on the Scyfy channel. Some form of disaster, terrible cgi and a group of actors on the downswing of their careers.

This two part mini-series is essentially just an extended one of the aforementioned movies and stands at 3hrs.

It follows a scientist investigating a shady conspiracy regarding bizarre tsunamis that are behaving unusually and against nature.

The plot is actually not bad even if not entirely original, it plods along at a competent pace and is marginally saved by a very good cast who are simply too good for this kind of project.

For what it is it's not actually bad, but with the exception of the finale don't except any surprises.

The Good:

Strong cast

The Bad:

Speedboat over the tsunami, sorry but really!?

The usual poor cgi

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Tsunamis are bad?! Sorry I really have noting for this one