Decent and creative movies centered around psychadelic drugs and the sensations, phenomenons they bring, are a rarity, or at least it feels so. As I've always taken a lot of interest in the world of a psychonaut, I'm always looking out for movies like this - "The Wave" basks in the right bowl, though being much more sci-fi than anything else. It has the goods, it has the flaws, it's certainly a huge effort by everyone involved.
"The Wave" is a very lively, tightly made movie, during its first half you can sit back and enjoy the filmmakers' awesome artistry in which wrapped in are a lot of awesome suquences, some of them can even induce anxiety & all of them amuse and entertain. The humour is decent & the acting performances, honestly, frickin rock, Justin Long works up an effortful and tense lead. My favorite highlight most definitely is Tommy Flanagan as the mysterious drug aficionado Aeolus, but I have to say that literally every supporting character is as fun and vivid as the movie itself. Aesthetically "The Wave" is a hoot, dynamic, inventive, visibly full of creative technical solutions and enthusiasm. The problem with this considerably well hitting wave is the story it brings - the first half continues to add awesome stuff on more awesome stuff, seemingly building something bigger only to end up nowhere in the end. I theorise that it has a few anologies about the effects of recreational drugs like shrooms and LSD, the ego death, acknowledgment of one's flaws and the ultimate acceptance and sense of humanity. "The Wave" also has time travel and no explanation for most of its story, so that's that.
At first, "The Wave" appears fresh, different and very promising, but it has flaws - lack of substance, sort of botched ending and more - that are quite successfully hid (for some time) behind a commendable team effort and a very fun movie. Recommend for the lovers of all things trippy. My rating: 7/10.
