La troisième vague

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.

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

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.

Swedish action movies. Taste those words put together like that. It just doesn't taste right. Or, at least that is what i used to think. Anders Nilsson has forced me to at least in part reconsider my stance on Swedish action movies with his trilogy about the hard-case Johan Falk.

Usually the problem with Swedish action-movies consist of three things: (1) Hollywood complex. It seems that most Swedish directors have seen too many Hollywood action-movies without realizing that they need a budget to emulate that style. (2) The budget. Closely linked to the first point. Swedish movies simply don't have the budget for full-fledged action-scenes. (3) Stefan Sauk. I don't know HOW the man does it, but it seems he uses some kind of supernatural power to force EVERY director in Sweden to cast him in their action movies. Except for Anders Nilsson who stays away from Sauk mercifully enough.

Readers might already be acquainted with Anders Nilssons film-making from the first two installments in this trilogy. I can start off by saying that this movie is far superior to both the previous films. The technical quality, the acting and the action are all much more refined. This is without a doubt the best action movie to come out of Sweden for a very long time. Perhaps the best ever?

So what makes this such a great movie? Well first of all it seems Anders Nilsson manages to keep his Hollywood-complex in check. It seems he knows that he can't have two hours of intense action so instead he goes for a better approach. The action scenes are few and far between, but well made when they DO happen. Also he doesn't hesitate to use foreign actors which feels like something more Swedish directors should do. It adds substantially to the realism of the movie. Last but not least the script feels properly worked through. Many times scripts for Swedish movies feel unfinished and filled with strange plot-holes and nonsensical twists. This is at least one step up in quality from most others.

In the end this finally feels like a Swedish action movie that people outside of Sweden can actually enjoy. That the budget is still well below 5 million USD shows of course, but the money is used wisely and this is an enjoyable experience. Hopefully other Swedish directors now understand that the bar has been raised. I rate this 6/10.