Tidal Wave: No Escape

This was from before it was a thing to purposely make a bad disaster movie.

Back then they tried to make it the best movie they could and the actors gave it their all. To me that makes the goofier moments that much more fun.

It is still a predictable movie without much in the way of suspense, but for a lazy Sunday afternoon or an exhausted weeknight it is entertaining enough.

If you are watching this in the 2020's (or later) and expecting to see lots of destruction from huge waves then you will be disappointed.

Special effects were expensive and complex in 1997, so they had to fill more of the time with people actually acting.

Corbin Bernsen and Julianne Phillips were fun. Gregg Henry's character was a bit over the top with his cane, pimp walk and hair sticking up; but he was entertaining none-the-less.

This definitely made me nostalgic for the disaster of old where they weren't 70% cheaply done CGI and 30% bad acting.

This is another installment of a genre of movies in which the protagonist and eventual hero is falsely accused at first, usually by being set up. The movie Killer Wave is rather similar. These movies are good enough to watch, but usually have annoying parts to them. It all comes clean in the end, but the authorities that won't listen don't always get the karma they should.

This made-for-TV drama is near being a disaster itself. The story line is just not believable enough to get very excited about. The CGI tsunamis look cool, but not fearsome. When destructive tidal waves put the coast of California in harm's way; retired weapons expert and Nobel Prize winner John Wahl(Corbin Bernsen)is suspected of instigating the peril. Oceanographer Jessica Weaver(Julianne Phillips)is about the only one in the scientific community to feel differently and offers to help Wahl prove his innocence.

Bernsen does the best he can; and Phillips is definitely nice to look at. The two are just not enough to make this movie any better than it is. Rounding out the cast are: Harve Presnell, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Gregg Henry, who is so easy to dislike. The surf may be up; but the urge to hit the beach is just not there.

This is a mediocre disaster movie that I watched and it wasn't that good. The movie mostly focus on two characters trying to figured out on how is causing these tidal waves and why. This plot is pretty predictable and is not that interesting to learn about. It's not that enjoyable due it mostly focus on characters looking at stuff or the group hunting him down. The characters are mostly bland due to them not having a interesting development and adds nothing to the movie. As for the acting, they try their best, but it doesn't make the movie better. There's only two disaster scenes in the entire movie and they aren't that suspenseful. It happen way too quickly and it doesn't show the danger of it. Also, it uses the same waves throughout the movie due to the budget of it. I do think the sets of the flooding looks decent, but isn't that impressive. And the movie ends pretty blandly.

Tidal Wave: No Escape isn't that impressive at all and would not recommend it.

My TV magazine announced this movie as having nice special effects. Where the heck did they get that idea?! The CGI waves never looked remotely real because they did not integrate with their surroundings. Scenes such as people in a boat on the sea were so obviously shot in a studio as I last saw them in 50's movies.

Add to that an implausible plot (though the basic premise was OK), cardboard characters, pseudoscientific gobbledygook that makes even the layperson's hair stand on end, and wooden acting especially be the supporting cast, and you have "Tidal Wave". Even disaster fetishists expect something better!

On the plus side, the female lead, Julianne Phillips, is nice to look at (I was surprised to learn she is Bruce Springsteen's ex-wife), and both she and Corbin Bernsen do their best, but this movie cannot be saved. 3 out of 10.