The Tunnel

There are times when a less-is-more approach results in gripping entertainment and The Tunnel is one such example.

The Tunnel may be shrouded in blistering embers and fumes, but it never loses sight of the victims and helpers, of whom there are many.

[A] formulaic, but sufficiently diverting thriller...

The film lacks for the methodically escalating stakes that makes the best examples of the genre so entertaining.

Solidly crafted if a bit uninspired, Pål Øie's thriller is like a horizontal, colder, sootier "Towering Inferno" minus the all-star-cast, though their soap-operatics are intact.

I can well imagine a Hollywood remake, though this might well accentuate the existing tendency to cliche and a glib ending.

The harrowing accident and its immediate aftermath is visually striking and dramatically gripping, although the lack of emotional depth causes that urgency to dwindle amid a gloomy haze.

As stuffed with soap-opera clichés as its cinematic precursors, but this is nevertheless a solid and diverting rescue procedural... and it's somehow even more shocking for how mundane its disaster is.

"The Tunnel" is a worthy addition to the small subterranean genre.

"The Tunnel" dangles human vulnerability and fortitude in balanced portions.