Kristoffer Joner, far right, in The Wave (Magnolia Pictures)

There is room for big, loud, dumb expensive movies in the world, but Michael Bay, you just got schooled on how to make a disaster flick by the Norwegian upstarts behind The Wave. Their trick? Forget the end of the world. There is no need to take out a major city to make a point. It’s set in a simple Norwegian fishing and tourist town along the water in a fjord, and it focuses on one family. Mind you, it is an absurdly good-looking family. If these guys are the result of Democratic Socialism, sign me up.

The Wave hits every disaster trope but does so in a low-key, intimate manner. We are introduced to dorky-hunky geologist Kristian and his wife, Idun, who keeps the house together, quite literally. She asks her husband for a plumber’s wrench, and he has no idea what she’s talking about. She is portrayed as level-headed, brave, and cool under pressure, which only bears mentioning because so many women in action films are not, particularly the spouses of the nominal heroes. Their son, Sondre, is just beginning his rounds of teenage surliness, and their daughter, five-year-old Julia, is impossibly, painfully adorable. We watch them be generally cute as pandas as they ready themselves to leave the fjord and mountain they love so much because Kristian has gotten himself a sell-out job in the city that requires *gasp* a suit!

Anyhow, we also meet the geology team (not as glamorous but still simply adorable) whose job it is to monitor potential rock slides, which can unleash a devastating tsunami. Lo and behold on Kristian’s last day, a couple of monitors within the mountain stop working and he has to prolong his leaving to check them out, which involves spelunking into super claustrophobic crevices. Of course, Kristian is sure disaster is imminent. Of course, his warnings are ignored as the typical “we can’t drive away the tourists” line is used, though there seems to be only one hotel in the entire town. Eventually Kristian calms down and settles himself at home, ready to leave the next day when, well, you know….

Director Roar Uthaug and co-writers Harald Rosenlow Eeg and John Kare Raake do a fabulous job of building suspense. There’s a quiet sense of dread as our beloved family continually splits up, comes together and splits up again. Regarding the impending disaster, you keep thinking, “Now, it’ll happen now.” The filmmakers drop hints subtle and not-so-subtle while also building up potential subplots that are brutally swept away when the tsunami arrives. And boy does it ever.

In total, the disaster itself takes only a few minutes time, but that wave gets the awe inspiring majesty and terror it deserves. There are also some lovely bits that would have hamstrung lesser filmmakers. The time from the first alarm (an actual red button needs to be pushed) to the arrival of the tsunami takes 10 minutes, and everybody knows it. They also know just exactly how high up the mountain they need to go to not get swept away. It’s like Roger Ebert’s famous bomb clock theory times 20. (Bombs don’t need clock timers because no one should be around to see it explode. They exist solely to build suspense .)

After the devastation, Kristian (spoiler, he survives the wave) heads back down to the devastated town to search for his family. Here again, Uthaug and company present an impressive scene of devastation. Other stuff happens, too. We follow Idun’s adventures as well as she rushes to get the tourists out of the hotel (where she works). But it’s best to go in blind. Like all great genre films, you know pretty much exactly what’s going to happen. The fun is how it happens. And The Wave is a hell of a fun ride.

Directed By Roar Uthaug
Produced by Martin Sundland and Are Heidenstrom
Written by  John Kare Raake and Harald Rosenlow Eeg
Released by Magnolia Pictures
Norway. 105 min. Rated R
With Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Trop, Jonas Hoff Oftebro, Edith Haagenrud-Sande