In Norwegian, Skjelvet. A Norwegian disaster movie, and sequel to The Wave (2015).
Three years after the rockslide in Geiranger, geologist Kristian Eikjord is divorced from his wife and separated from his kids, living in seclusion from the outside world due to his developing paranoia of disasters happening everywhere he goes.
After a former co-worker dies in what the Norwegian Press calls a freak accident, Kristian goes to Oslo to investigate, and finds out that he was studying the possibility of an earthquake in Oslo. Researching it further, Kristian makes several shocking discoveries that suggest a massive quake may soon hit Oslo. His fears realized all too late, he is caught in a race against time to save the ones he loves before Oslo crumbles to the ground.
The Quake features examples of:
- Action Survivor: Everyone, but especially Marit. The Eikjords already survived a tsunami (barely, in Kristian’s case), but this is Marit’s first major natural disaster. She spends much of the film’s second half protecting Julia, and saves both the girl and Kristian from plunging out the window of a tilted skyscraper.
- Artistic License – Physics / Rule of Drama: The high-rise hotel that Idun, Kristian and Julia are trapped in after the quake takes *massive* damage from a nearby skyscraper collapsing into it, but somehow, the remains manage to keep from collapsing and taking out the main cast. However, it's partial collapse puts all of them in grave danger which Idun does not survive.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Kristian says he doesn’t blame Idun for leaving, but she points out that he left them, and they miss him. The pair are on the way to reconciliation by the second half of the film. Unfortunately, she doesn’t survive until the end.
- Beard of Sorrow: Kristian sports one at the start of the film. He later shaves it off, and just keeps a tidy mustache.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Marit winds up a little grimy and bloody, but not enough to detract from her appearance. Idun would fit if not for the nightmare that becomes her leg.
- Big Blackout: One hits Oslo in the wake of a smaller quake, the day before the big one.
- Bittersweet Ending: Three members of the family survive. Idun is not one of them.
- Blood from the Mouth: One of the women Idun works with, who is partially crushed under a stone wall.
- Cassandra Truth: Nobody wants to believe Kristian when he says a disaster is coming. To be fair, he does come across as completely paranoid.
- Damsel in Distress: Julia. Understandable, though, since she’s about nine.
- Disaster Movie: And the sequel to one, no less.
- Drives Like Crazy: Marit, though not because she wants to.
- Elevator Failure: Once the quake sets in, it becomes a death trap.
- Foreshadowing: The rats in Idun’s basement, running away from seemingly nothing. They sensed the gas released from the earth that was a prelude to the earthquake.
- Happy Ending Override: The events of the first film left Kristian supremely messed-up; trauma and Survivor Guilt have left him estranged from his family and wracked with paranoia.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Idun has part of her calf sheared off down to the bone in the elevator shaft. It barely seems to register at first, but she’s obviously in shock.
- Men Can't Keep House: Kristian’s house is kind of a disaster, and he has almost no food when Julia comes to visit.
- One-Word Title: In Norwegian.
- Out of Focus: Sondre doesn’t have a whole lot of screen time this time around.
- Primal Fear: If you’re afraid of earthquakes or heights, this might not be the film for you.
- Properly Paranoid: Kristian is paranoid about future earthquakes, but it turns out to be justified.
- Room Full of Crazy: Kristian’s bedroom looks rather like this, thanks to all the things he’s collected out of his Survivor Guilt.
- Scenery Gorn: The film doesn’t skimp on the destruction of Oslo.
- Scenery Porn: There are some beautiful shots of Norwegian fjords.
- Supreme Chef: In spite of her age, Julia manages two omelettes that wouldn’t look out-of-place in a restaurant. She also cleaned Kristian’s kitchen.
- Survivor Guilt: Kristian has quite a lot of this. When Julia visits him, she finds he has a room full of news clippings and photos of those who died in the tsunami of the last film. She says that she doesn’t understand why he’s doing that, and he replies that he doesn’t, either.
- Take My Hand!: Kristian, to Idun, in the elevator shaft. Unfortunately, he loses his grip, and she plunges to her death. Marit tries to catch an injured woman before she can fall out of a swiftly-tilting building, but also fails.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Those tasty-looking omelettes Julia makes are still on the table that night, uneaten.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sondre’s college professor; when Sondre points out that an alarm means they ought to leave class, the processor dismisses it, saying that since the alarm stopped there’s obviously no problem. He dies when the big earthquake hits.
