Killer Wave

...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.

"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.

Killer Wave did seem sort of interesting at hindsight, with the idea to have man making tidal waves as a terrorist weapon, but when I did sit down to watch it it was spoilt completely by bad execution. The scenery is good, but the photography has a dull look to it and the effects looked cheesy and would look more at home in films and TV series of the 60s. Killer Wave is furthered hampered by endless continuity problems especially in the scene where Jim's house is destroyed by the tidal wave, including noticeable and distracting changes in position of the wave, and scientific inaccuracies with words you could tell they didn't know the meaning of it. That's not all though. The dialogue is rambling and stilted, the main villain's speech about his humble taking-over could and should have been edited down to three or so sentences and there is nothing interesting in the story or characters. Granted the concept was great, but the pace was pedestrian not helped by scenes that dragged on forever, the whole McAdams framing plotting was far too obvious and I have seen the innocent-guy-holding-the-gun trick countless times before and a million times better. In terms of the characters, none of them engaged me in any way, they are little more than bland stereotypes that you don't care anything for in the end. It seems ironic really because by the end of the first part despite the overkill character padding by the time any character is given any attention you just don't care. The acting is awful, Angus McFadyen is such a promising actor but this story and character is simply beneath him and judging by his phoned-in performance here I got the sense he knew that. Overall, as interesting the idea was, the execution made Killer Wave a waste of time. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Angus MacFadyen and the general concept made me watch this. I couldn't get through more than the first hour though. Very bad pacing, not great acting, bad CGI, characters you don't care about and a plot that makes no sense and shifts for little reason.

There was a weird dress ethic where men wore ill fitting suits in strange colours. Perhaps they bought in bulk from a thrift store.

I can't even give any good points to balance this review. I guess the lighting wasn't awful and it's probably family friendly since it's devoid of sex, drugs, tension and, well everything.

Leave it alone. You will thank me.

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.