THE QUAKE Will Rattle Nerves!

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres from director John Andreas Andersen and Magnolia Pictures comes the story of a family trying to recover from one tragedy only to face THE QUAKE.

Kristian Elkjord (Kristoffer Joner) is still reeling from the wave that hit Geiranger three years past and it has caused him to stay away from wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp), son Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) and daughter Julia (Edith Haagenrud-Sande). Idun has returned to work at a hotel in Oslo yet still wishes Kristian would return home.

Keeping his family at bay is easy when Julia visits her father and sees the wall of people her father feels he could have saved. Kristian becomes curious when a geologist colleague speaks out about what is happening under the city of Oslo. When he dies in the Oslofjord tunnel, Kristian can’t help but get involved in finding out why, especially when he suspects a natural disaster coming.

Gathering up the research, Marit Lindhblom (Kathrine Thorborg Johansen) sees Kristian’s reaction and begins to take him seriously. It isn’t long before he tries to get the attention of former colleague Johannes Loberg (Stig R. Amdam) to convince him that a quake is coming.

Everyone thinks that Kristian is reliving the fear of what happened before – they have no idea what’s to come!

Joner as Kristian is a man who is completely out of control with suspicion and sadness. He doesn’t want to believe that he is the flag waver of disaster but the evidence of the quake proves otherwise. I’m thrilled that Joner once again has taken up the role of Kristian because no one else could have made this story flow from one disaster to another. He may not say allot but when he does…pay attention!

Torp as Idun also returns as a woman who is trying to raise her children while Kristian figures out where he wants to be. It is easy to forget that she also is trying to keep the trauma of the wave in perspective but it’s there right below the surface.

Oftebro as Sondre is grown up and in college and hasn’t given up on his father. Letting things flow as they are going to, he is happy to see his father when he does show up! As THE WAVE focused on Sondre, this time it is Haagenrud-Sande as Julia that takes up a bit of screen time. Wanting her father back home, Julia makes the effort to show that he is loved and missed. It is when the quake hits that she once again experiences the trauma of mother nature.

Johansen as Marit isn’t all that interested in the research about the ground below Oslo, but when Kristian shows up she gets interested pretty quick. Although, I’m sure dangling off a 30 story building wasn’t in her plans. Amdam as Johannes wants to believe his friend about the quake but he is a man of proof and he’s about to get an earth rattling ton of it.

It is no secret to anyone that I am a huge fan of disaster films and not just because of the disaster (although sometimes its pretty epic stuff). I like the films also for the human aspect of it all, watching characters develop into the choices they make. Is there anything new here? Not really, although I did hope the actual ‘quake’ would be more of a shake up instead of a few moments of rattle. When the actual quake does appear the earth isn’t taking any prisoners that’s for sure.

I also truly loved that the original cast family came back together to once again go through something traumatic. There is a moment (no spoilers here folks) that I was totally jaw dropped and am still not happy about but that’s to be expected. You can’t crack and roll the earth with an outcome that’s good for all.

Director Andersen gives us the human emotion of Kristian and his family and never lets us forget for a second that they survived something pretty horrific in THE WAVE. Bringing back the original cast brings the viewer in quickly to the story. Now with THE QUAKE he challenges the same family one more time with an ending that had to be.

So if you are ready to join the family once again, may I suggest you prepare yourself for THE QUAKE.

In the end – the signs are there!