The Wave Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Wave Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 31, 2020

“The Wave” approaches ideas on conscience and karmic balance through the cinematic reverberations of psychedelic drugs. Director Gille Klabin is prepared to take the audience on a special mind-bending ride, armed with distinct visuals and doses of CGI, while instructing star Justin Long to capture the finer points of mental and physical alarm as his character is sent through time and space to deal with his issues as a human being in a dangerous position of power. “The Wave” has a simple message of personal inventory to study, and Klabin tries to capture audience attention through bursts of chaos, hoping to wind up the feature as a manic sprint through different realities. It’s not an especially ambitious production, and not entirely compelling either, but it does have a certain energy at times to keep it going, with Long working hard to communicate the inner melt of a troubled man.

Frank (Justin Long) is a corporate lawyer who’s successfully blocked several life insurance claims for people in need, aiming for the big time when he requests an important meeting with his boss, Jonas (Bill Sage), hoping to acquire a promotion. Frank is married to Cheryl (Sarah Minnich), barely paying attention to their excessive spending habits, and he’s tempted by his colleague, Jeff (Donald Faison), who’s pushing for the suit to spending a night on the town. Agreeing to the “adventure,” Frank meets Theresa (Shelia Vand) at a bar, with her clarity of thought and awareness of his sins startling the legal hustler. Soon stuck in a room with drug guru Aeolus (Tommy Flanagan), Frank agrees to try a special hallucinogenic, hoping for a strange high with Theresa. The powder destroys his sense of reality instead, shredding the concept of time as the panicked man is left to figure out what’s happening to him and how he can control it.

Writer Carl W. Lucas isn’t out to make Frank a particularly complex figure of corruption, turning the character into a lawyer with little awareness of the lives he’s influencing as he searches for ways to deny insurance payments. He’s out to help the company and himself, ready to take his career to the next level, booking a key meeting with Jonas for the next morning, working up the nerve to finally prove his worth to the boss. At home, he’s a disengaged husband to a demanding wife, more enchanted with his new television purchase than with Cheryl, who’s just as materialistic. However, money issues are present for Frank, who’s playing a dangerous game with delayed payments and account juggling, trying to keep his finances from crumbling. When Jeff offers a night of drinking and womanizing, Frank agrees, soon finding himself in a hostile conversation with Theresa, who seems to know something about his moral and ethical shortcomings, seeing through is rehearsed banter.

Drugs enter “The Wave” during the second act, with Aeolus a mystery man who provides a special powder for Frank, promising him a real ride. The lawyer accepts, implodes, and wakes up in an empty house without his wallet and phone, leaving him to frantically figure out what’s happened. Extra pressure is supplied by his meeting, which is about to start without him, giving Klabin a ticking clock to work with as anxiety skyrockets for Frank, who’s also dealing with Cheryl’s anger after he spent the night away from home. The central thrust of “The Wave” remains with the lead character, who can’t understand what’s going on, trying to put together his new reality while dealing with his future. Along the way, Frank experiences shockwaves from the drug, which turns the present into a horror show, but also permits him to travel around time, offering a form of control he’s hoping to figure out. Klabin loves the freak-out scenes, and spends a lot of time with them, throttling the pace of the feature as the helmer plays with distorted extremity, which only exists in the lawyer’s mind. More compelling are visits from Theresa, who appears in dreamlike meetings, presenting Frank with reflection on his own actions.

The Wave Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

"The Wave" does quite a lot with its visual presence, often weaving throughout unreality as the main character deals with his drug-induced problems and bending of time. The AVC encoded image (2.38:1 aspect ratio) presentation manages the feature's heavy tinkering satisfactorily, offering a healthy level of detail that preserves facial particulars, exploring subtle and broad scenes of panic. CGI-laded trips also communicate frame particulars, with general smoothing and distortion noted, along with textured, star-bursting skies. Costuming remains fibrous, working with thicker business attire and grimy underworld outfits. Colors are a highlight, often working with the rainbow world of the titular high, capturing the mesmerizing hues. Primaries are just as compelling, with real world office decoration and street visits intact. Skintones are natural. Delineation isn't troublesome. Compression issues are periodic, with banding creeping into view.

The Wave Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix is working very hard to immerse listeners into the world of "The Wave." While it's a lossy track, it's putting in some effort to create distinct differences between Frank's levels of consciousness. Surrounds are active throughout, managing washes of psychological distortion with compelling separation and panning effects. Atmospherics are direct, sustaining club visits, naturalistic elements, and otherworld meetings. Dialogue exchanges are sharp, capturing dramatic offerings with an even sense of engagement, losing nothing to argumentative behavior. Scoring and soundtrack cuts are direct, hitting with a louder volume and heavier beats, contributing an inviting synth throb.

The Wave Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Gille Klabin and screenwriter Carl W. Lucas.

• Animatics (1:16, HD) highlight the similarities between pre-production planning and the final edit of the opening scene.

• Gag Reel (3:57, HD) collects flubbed lines, laughing fits, and equipment mistakes. Goofballery gets real for a moment when Justin Long comments that dealing with an uncooperative dog is still "easier than working with Lindsay Lohan."

• VFX Breakdown (:38, HD) identifies the various CGI layers required to turn a single shot into a drug-induced paradise.

• "The Car Hit" (:40, HD) provides footage from three attempts to plan and perfect a mid-movie accident sequence.

• And a Teaser Trailer (1:02, HD) and a Theatrical Trailer (1:50, HD) are included.

The Wave Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"The Wave" tries to keep a sense a humor, but it's primarily interested in short bursts of mayhem. Frank gets in deep during his quest to get the drug out of his system, eventually taking even more illegal substances, enraging dealer Ritchie (Ronnie Gene Blevins, overacting like crazy), which commences something of a chase and a series of desperate decisions. Klabin is striving to keep the adrenaline flowing, peppering the endeavor with scenes of mind-bending encounters, and it's all trying to get somewhere profound, with Lucas pushing Frank to deal with his misdeeds as he's caught in a drug-induced blender. "The Wave" doesn't reach such a pristine state of enlightenment, often caught massaging the ugly details, but its heart is in the right place, dealing with acts of responsibility and clarity with intermittent success.