Review: KRAKEN Ain’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

Are you sick of shark attack movies? Or, at the least, craving a different aquatic horror flavor? You’re in luck this year! Not only is Hungry unleashing a killer hippo on audiences (review to come), but a mythical sea creature from Norway bursts forth from the depths. Pål Øie’s Kraken nods to Sea Fever, The Meg, and Underwater in its modest attempt to exploit a Norse folklore nightmare. It’s a little bit of everything you’ve seen in big honkin’ monster flicks, hoping beautiful Scandinavian backdrops will distract from the usual man-screws-with-nature themes.

Events revolve around a salmon farm in Vangsnes, a research facility built into a picturesque fjord currently testing sonic waves as an anti-lice treatment for the fish. Johanne (Sara Khorami) is brought in to inspect the technology, reuniting with head engineer and ex-partner Erik (Mikkel Bratt Silset). The site’s bigwig, Avaldsnes (Øyvind Brandtzæg), instructs his right-hand to bypass safety boundaries to impress visiting investors. He thinks it’ll ensure his salmon are remarkably non-liced, but instead, draws the ire of a gigantic beast residing in the fjord: “The Kraken.”

Cinematographer Sjur Aarthun earns his paycheck by highlighting all the gorgeous mountain ranges creating the fjord’s towering walls. The Kraken is a straightforward, familiar concept that—like many waterlogged horror flicks—relies on its personal touches to gussy up subgenre norms. You’ve got your foolish businessman who dooms his operation and surrounding townsfolk by disregarding ecological regulations and summons a big, bad monster who feasts on innocents as a result. Johanne tries to intervene, tourists go missing, yadda yadda, you get the drill. What separates The Kraken from a bevy of shark, octopus, and other sea creature flicks is the Kraken itself, and the Lovecraftian ominousness it brings.

It’s (too long) a wait until the Kraken appears, rolling in with a cloaking fog, but when it does, Øie emphasizes creature effects. Whether tentacles slither through the corridors of a now unanchored facility, the Kraken looms under moonlight like a deity from Atlantis, or it’s glimpsed flailing underwater, Øie wants his star to look the part. Digital and practical methods blend as necessary, although up-close views of sucker cups on the Kraken’s appendages aren’t always pixel-perfect. Massive designs with Kaiju appeal earn right praise, and yet, portioned-off bits of the Kraken don’t always look as sharp on screen. Or, splashing schools of animated salmon underwhelm. It’s odd, because grand-scale Kraken illustrations are a sight to behold—while the little stuff gets dinged.

Unfortunately, Kraken plays coy with death scenes. Scurrying parasite minions with skull-pattern backs attack the crew like soldiers, but any victims they claim are off camera. The Kraken grabs humans, waving them in the air or pulling them towards its beaky mouth, but we never get a solid kill visual as a result. Øie shoots around violent action, pulling bodies underwater to be shown chewed in half, washed up on shore a few scenes later. Whether budgetary or by choice, we get yet another example of a creature feature that cuts away right before a gory payoff. Perhaps Øie wants to accentuate the survival adventure aspects, not to drive away more casual thrillseekers who aren’t begging for some graphic Kraken fatalities.

For better or worse, Kraken checks all the necessary boxes but rarely nabs extra credit. Performances, pacing, and shot selection are solid foundational rocks. Signature touches add a pop of personality, whether that’s an underwater restaurant set design or Jon Erik Myre’s Hodor-sized weeb of a tech wiz. Eco-friendly messages are given proper importance, even if they’re shoehorned into the dialogue. There’s little here that breaks away from expectations, but Øie directs with a steady hand. It’s hard to fault anything, even if excitement doesn’t boil over either.

But Kraken has a problem. It’s a sorta-solid Norwegian import that eventually does justice to its namesake sea beast, yet really doesn’t feature all that much of said beast. It’s never redefining the subgenre, nor does Øie try. Those jonesing for a Kraken movie will be given exactly that; however, the story’s better at teasing than pleasing. Don’t expect to escape the typical shortcomings of aquatic horror offerings—few titles do. That wouldn’t be an issue in more attention-grabbing examples. Here, Øie’s ability to execute the basics isn’t enough to overcome what turns out to be just another soggy, so-so dud that can’t deliver on the promise of aquatic horror exceptionality.

Movie Score: 2.5/5