Killer Wave

"Killer Wave" is a TV Mini-Series movie divided into two parts which are equally bad. To tell the truth when you start to see a movie like this you do not have many expectations of this. Personally, I have to tell you that I saw this movie yesterday on TV and it was really a waste of my time, but I knew from the beginning of this that it will be.

In my opinion "Killer Wave" is a simple movie with not any plot or anything that a person could be interested of. Αs the film title says, regards a deadly wave which destroys and kills everyone and everything in its path.

Do not waste your time for this movie, it's not worth it...

The scientist and novelist John McAdams (Angus Macfadyen) is summoned to an emergency meeting of scientists at the Preston Point Institute to discuss a tsunami that has hit the Southern New Jersey Shore. Eight years ago, John created man-made tidal waves with his Sea Lion Project; during the experiments, his beloved wife Ann had died and he quit working as scientist. Now the scientists discuss the possibility of a terrorist attack. When John returns home, he finds that someone has planted a file in his computer with classified information to incriminate him since he had written a sci-fi novel about terrorists using tidal waves to destroy the USA.

When a second tsunami reaches the Maine, John becomes the prime suspect and is chased by the FBI and the police. Meanwhile he investigates the events with his former colleague and friend Sophie Marleau (Karine Vanasse) and when he follows the money, he discloses a huge conspiracy with economical interests of the Camtrell Corporation to construct the Sea Wall defense system to protect the American coast.

"Killer Wave" is a TV Mini-Series with a reasonable story that could have been better and better with minor improvements. The writers were lazy and the direction was loose. (1) John McAdams is a non-charismatic character and the fat Angus Macfadyen gives the sensation that is bored and without any motivation to act. Therefore Angus Macfadyen is miscast. (2) Stanley Schiff, performed by Christopher Heyerdahl, seems to be a moron but never a scientist with his behavior. This character should have been better developed. (3) The two FBI agents seem to be independent agents and never report their findings to a chief. (4) The pace is too slow and emotionless. Edgar's speech, for example, is too long and dull. (5) In the final sequence, there are at least three mercenaries protecting Edgar Powell and Aslan Bulkari that shoot the two FBI agents that escape using the elevator. Pretty after, Sophie runs through the corridors and there are no killers anymore that vanish. (6) There are very few characters for a conspiracy of that size probably due to budget restraint. (7) The story is predictable and the conclusion is very disappointing. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Maremoto" ("Tidal 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.

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