Tidal Wave: No Escape

USA • 1997 • 91m •

• Directed by: George Miller. • Starring: Corbin Bernsen, Julianne Phillips, Gregg Henry, Larry Brandenburg, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Harve Presnell, Aki Aleong, Gene Wolande, Lance Wilson-White, Cheryl Francis Harrington, David Fabrizio, Stephen Bridgewater, Teddy Lane Jr.. • Music by: Bruce Rowland.

When brutal tidal waves suddenly destroy many coastal communities in a short period of time, John Wahl, a nobel prize winner, is brought out of his lazy retirement and back into service as a consultant. He teams up with a Navy officer to find out the cause of the disaster. But when a ransom of one billion dollars is demanded, Wahl is the government's number one suspect.

Review:

Image from: Tidal Wave: No Escape (1997)

Tidal Wave: No Escape begins with two tidal waves or tsunamis which seemingly coincidentally strike one after the other. One in Japan and one in the U.S. It is later learned that they were most likely man made and it soon becomes apparent when the man behind the waves demands 1 billion dollars. The only question to those in the movie, who are constantly pointing their fingers at the wrong guy, is who is really causing the tidal waves and how? We, the viewers, are let in on the perpetrator pretty early, so very little guess work is involved for us. This is more of a sit back and enjoy the special effects without using your brain type of movie.

Speaking of the special effects, how can they be so good and so bad at the same time? The tidal waves themselves were awesome. Having never even seen a picture of a real tidal wave before it crashes, this looked pretty realistic to me. So how they managed to create a giant wave that wreaks havoc through a few cities and why they need an obvious blue screen on other shots make the movie so horribly sub-par.

Corbin Bernsen, Julianne Phillips and Gregg Henry star here, but that really does not matter. The movie and these roles were so one dimensional, that nearly anyone could have played them. Gregg Henry should have steered clear entirely because he is a better actor than required here, as he displayed in Payback. This is definitely one for the special effects only.

Review by BigHardcoreRed from the Internet Movie Database.

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May 4 2017, 12:16

Tidal Wave No Escape DVD.

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