Norway's New Creature Feature Is Part Jaws, Part Godzilla & All Engrossing

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The Kraken has been a part of cultural history going back as early as the 1500s, when sailors that traveled through the Norwegian Sea would tell tales of a squid-like sea monster attacking ships. Pioneering French filmmaker Georges Méliès would be the first to bring the creature to life on the screen with 1906’s Under the Seas, while everything from Clash of the Titans to Pirates of the Caribbean have offered different interpretations of it.

Now, for the first time, the creature is getting a solo movie, and with Kraken, Norwegian filmmaker Pål Øie has delivered one of the best depictions of it yet. It’s definitely not without some flaws – certain characters make baffling decisions, and the visual effects look rocky in parts – but nothing unforgivable in the grand scheme of things.

Kraken Takes A Little Long To Get Going, But Is Exciting Once It Does

With a story developed by Øie and frequent collaborator Sjur Aarthun, Kraken primarily centers on Johanne (Sara Khorami), a young marine biologist working for Marine Research who is sent to the town of Vangsnes to investigate a bizarre set of occurrences surrounding the local fish farm. Initially reluctant to go, due to a complicated past with those in the town, a whistleblower video convinces her to venture out there anyway.

Upon arrival, Johanne is not only forced to reunite with her former partner, but also discovers that mysterious new aquatic specimens are being found in the area – and numerous tourists are turning up dead. As her investigation points to the fish farm’s experiments with the nearby fjord, they all become embroiled in an intense fight for survival.

With just a 90-minute runtime to work with, the writing team of Vilde Eide, Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, and Natasha Arthur smartly make enough use of the movie’s opening act to lay the groundwork for Kraken‘s setting and characters. Much like Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Jaws, we spend just enough time with the characters to become curious about what Johanne’s investigation will lead her, without ever being allowed to forget the kind of movie we’re watching.

Even more engaging is the way the film’s story doubles as something of an environmental impact warning from fish farms in the Norwegian fjords. Though it’s a little more surface-level than the critical look at the devastation of nuclear war in the earliest Godzilla movies, the fact that human intervention and experimentation on local marine life is the main catalyst for the Kraken unleashing havoc on Vangsnes does feel like a nice homage to the genre’s history.

Kraken has a tendency to set up various subplots, only to do away with them without any meaningful closure.

One thing that does prove frustrating in the film’s script is how often Kraken backtracks on its characters’ intelligence through their blatantly poor decision-making. Though perhaps not a scientist in the traditional sense, Johanne’s willingness to handle unknown specimens without any kind of protective gear feels baffling. Other careless decisions result in unnecessary dead bodies.

Moreover, Kraken has a tendency to set up various subplots, only to do away with them without any meaningful closure. For instance, following her exposure to some of the creature’s ink-like blood, Johanne has visions of it, seemingly setting up either a poisoning or supernatural connection that never goes anywhere. Additionally, Jenny Evensen’s Maria is shown planning some kind of scheme involving the fish farm with two cohorts, but it’s never made clear what their plan was beyond interrupting one of their experimental devices.

A group of people looking at a dead body through an underwater glass window in Kraken

While these subplots fail to properly round out the characters and story, Kraken‘s actual creature-feature thrills thankfully prove effective enough to keep viewers hooked. Øie wisely took a page from Jaws‘ famous playbook by keeping the eponymous monster off-screen for the majority of the film, while also intriguingly updating the mythos by including parasite offspring that attack the characters in ways it cannot. Even more exciting is when the film nears its final 30 minutes and the massive Kraken finally reveals itself. Though clearly not operating on a Monsterverse-level VFX budget, resulting in an occasionally goofy look, it’s hard to deny that Øie has a strong visual grasp on how to properly capture the terrifying magnificence of such a creature.

As for Kraken‘s cast, they may not be winning any awards any time soon, but they do deserve a fair amount of credit for their effectiveness in their roles. Sara Khorami, who featured in last year’s Troll 2, brings a sense of warmth and soulfulness to Johanne. House of Spoils‘ Mikkel Bratt Silset conveys a solid bravado as Johanne’s ex-partner Erik, and Øyvind Brandtzæg has an appropriate skittishness as the fish farm owner whose ambitions nearly result in everyone’s downfall.

It may not go down in history the way Jaws and Godzilla did, but Kraken has largely learned the right lessons from its genre predecessors to make for an enjoyable time. The kills are an appropriate mix of grisly and ambiguous, there is a timely undercurrent to its story, and the pacing moves steadily enough.

Kraken hits select theaters and digital platforms on June 12.