The Third Wave (2003)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I've just seen this movie tonight on Melbourne's SBS TV channel and had to see what others had thought of it (a pity the professional reviews are all in languages other than English). No matter. While it took a while for the plot to get going, I was engrossed from the beginning. It's great to see non-Hollywood actors (who can also act) in a good movie. For me, seeing unfamiliar faces in a thriller/drama adds to its impact, which doesn't often happen when I see so-called Hollywood "stars" who just can't forget their "star" quality... (eg Cage, Cruise).Some of the events in The Third Wave relied a little too much on coincidence to be believable, especially toward the end. And the Munich riots in the last section were rather "over the top" (I thought I was watching 28 Days Later at one point) - it was reassuring to read others' comments that such wild behaviour wasn't typical of protests in Munich. Nevertheless I was totally involved - I initially didn't have a clue who was to be trusted (thanks to a good script) - and the film's overall quality warranted my forgiving its unlikely coincidences.

"The Third Wave" is a strong European action-thriller that can measure itself with almost every American production. Organized crime is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in Europe and the newly appointed leader of the international police force Europol is determined to attack the criminals head on. Unfortunately he himself is killed when three professional hit men try to kill Rebecca, a young woman who had fled England to get away from her very powerful 'white collar' criminal husband. The Swedish inspector Johan Falk (a former colleague of the assassinated Europol-leader) witnesses the hit. He kills one of the hit men and flees the scene Rebecca. Now Johan, Rebecca and Johan's wife and daughter are in danger and because they don't know who to trust, their first priority is just to stay alive.As said, "The Third Wave' is a good film for a broad audience. The story gave the filmmakers the opportunity to put in a lot of action and because of that, is has become a fast film that doesn't have any weak moments. There are 5 different languages involved, but (with subtitles)it doesn't feel like a foreign film. You won't be able to see it in theaters, so you'll have to look for it at your local videostore.

The movie takes "organized crime" as topic and is very up to date. If you read Jean Ziegler's book (published 1998 in Geneva - I don't know the original or the English title), you know what the film is talking about. It is about the modern form of economics, the modern way to make money: by stealing taxes, using capital markets, tax havens, private police forces... the main "Baddie" studied at the London School of Economics. Obviously it was there where he learnt to make money by stealing power from the people or democratic governments, using corrupt banks and secret accounts.The film uses the struggle of grassroots movements and NGO's as a background: the end of the film takes part WITHIN a demonstration against globalization, which takes place in Munich, the city of the REAL annual "NATO Security Conference" - annual demonstrations included. While the movie describes properly the mechanism of the modern capital markets - organized crime being a regular part of them - the Munich demonstrations are not shown correctly. I live nearby and watch them each year. There is much more police, which is armed heavier, and which is the only violent force on the streets, always being able to suppress any non-peaceful protest. Violent protest, as shown in the film, is not possible in Munich. During the Nato Conference, Munich seems to be a totalitarian Banana Republic. And there is absolutely no way to get near the conference hotels, if you are not invited. Believe me, the demonstrators try it each year...But the capital markets are not affected. What the film is not telling you - as it is first and foremost an action movie: the problem are not certain human beings, who are criminals: the problem is the structure of the system (capital markets), which allows criminal behavior - which even DEMANDS criminal behavior to be successful. In this system you have to choose between having success or having moral values.

Absolutely better than Noll Tollerans and Livvakterna (swedish). This movie is very exiting and has a lot of action in it, witch is quite uncommon in swedish films. The actors/actresses is very good and the ending is very unexpected. See it today!