The Tunnel

I stumbled upon the 2019 Norwegian movie "Tunnelen" (aka "The Tunnel") by sheer random luck here in 2020. And given the last couple of years impressive disaster movies that have come from the Norwegian cinema, of course I had to sit down and watch "Tunnelen" as well.

First of all, I was surprised to see Thorbjørn Harr in the lead, and I will say that he definitely carried the role and the movie quite well with his performance.

"Tunnelen" was entertaining, for sure, however it did suffer a bit from being rather predictable. And that was a shame, because it slightly held the movie back from achieving further greatness. But worry not, I am not saying that "Tunnelen" is a bad or boring movie, far from it. Actually, I found the movie to be entertaining and enjoyable - just a shame that you knew exactly how the storyline would pan out from the very beginning.

The movie takes place mostly in a smoke-filled tunnel, so you don't get to see much of the majestic landscapes of my ancestral home Norway. However, I will say that, while the movie took place mostly in a dark and smoke-filled environment, then the cinematography and camera-work was really good, and it felt like you were right there in the chaos alongside with the actors.

"Tunnelen" had a good cast to fill out the various roles and characters, and they definitely contributed well to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

I am rating "Tunnelen" a solid six out of ten stars. It is quite well-worth sitting down to watch, and I can warmly recommend this movie.

I live in Latin America, where improvisation is an art, but not even down here people would act so stupidly and cowardly. Nobody obeyed anybody... and that includes the authorities! So, this would not happen in one of the most organized countries in the world. No way José!

It starts a little slow, but then something happens inside the tunnel. In the beginning the movie works well, but then the rescue begins. Orders are given from people in charge, but everybody is doing the excact opposite! I mean EVERYONE!!! Its just completely destroying the movie, because its so annoying. And the "hero" is way over the top.... One scene where he ends up crawling... Oh my god! Many many people dies in the tunnel...... But who cares? The people we follow only cares for themselves... Bringing a lot of people in great danger, and deaths, because they disobey orders. Its just stupid and annoying because the story is good.

Technically this is not badly done; lighting, pacing, acting, effects are all good value for the budget.

BUT honestly it feels like a movie put together by an AI... Take the formula for this sort of movie since at least the 70s (various disparate individuals in trouble, some family conflict, some stupid behavior, some heroic behavior) and just transplant it to Norway.

It's raised ever so slightly above the average by the scenes of how traffic control works from the inside, but there are far too few of these. I kept thinking of how someone like Aaron Sorensen (for all his predictability) could have made it so much better, with constant small speeches and explanations between the various characters saying things like "we do it this because in the fire at xyx in 2006 such and such and happened." It's adding in this background texture, not just plot but a feeling that you understand some of why the system works as it does, that makes a movie like this better than a thousand similar movies...

This film had promise with the beautiful snowy Norwegian landscapes and claustrophobic tunnel setting but unfortunately it's just incredibly dull. Looks like Daylight will continue to reign supreme in the niche tunnel-based disaster genre.