‘Kraken’ proves fun creature-feature throwback
You gotta admire an old-fashioned horror film that name-drops Greta Thunberg, who, to the unenlightened, is considered a bigger threat to our over-consumptive way of life than the titanic tentacled creature wreaking havoc in Pål Øie’s “Kraken.” It stands as both an homage and a revival of classic “message” B-movies from the 1950s that slyly employed hulking monsters to metaphorically represent the dangers of man’s atomic-fueled tampering with nature.
Films such as “Them” and “The Creature from the Black Lagoon,” to which “Kraken” owes its greatest debt. While Julie Adams made for a sexier ichthyologist than “Kraken’s” Sara Khorami, the latter tops her predecessor in sheer brawn and intelligence. Her Johanne is cut from the same badass cloth as Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley, a no-nonsense scientist so attuned to her mission that she’s unfazed by working alongside her old flame, Erik (Mikkel Bratt Silset), a fellow idealist who sold out to the man.
That “man” would be the win-at-all-costs huckster Avaldsnes (Øyvind Brandtzæg), the head rancher of Norway’s leading salmon farm factory, located on the picturesque, 1,300-feet-deep Sognefjord. The operation is so successful that a delegation of Japanese investors has arrived on site with checkbooks in hand. And what intrigues them most is Erik’s invention of a sonic delousing pod that stands to revolutionize the industry. To impress his guests, Avaldsnes, natch, cranks the machine up to 11. And in so doing, creates a sonic wave that not only disrupts the entire ecosystem but also echoes far into the depths, awakening the slumbering kraken.
The script, credited to a trio of scribes, practically writes itself. And I’m not sure that it didn’t rely on a dash of AI, given the swarm of sci-fi tropes Øie nostalgically dusts off to sate audiences weaned on “Godzilla” and its brethren. It’s a well-creased blueprint melding clunky dialogue with increasingly effective thrills as the beast takes its sweet time plotting its third-act rampage. As such, Øie wisely keeps the creature under wraps, a la the shark in “Jaws,” for two-thirds of his flick’s compact 89 minutes.
To much lesser effect, he and the writers are equally stingy with the characterizations of the initially clueless humans, including Avaldsnes’ chief-of-police wife, Henriette (Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes), and their somewhat morose teenage daughter, Maria (Jenny Evensen), who dreams of sailing her broken-down sloop to distant shores. The special effects, though, are top-notch, particularly for a film erected on such a minimal budget.
Øie (“The Tunnel”) also proves himself more than capable of sufficiently creating tension and suspense, making the most of the kraken’s long, slithering arms, which have a knack for blindly weaving through portals and trapdoors seeking out human flesh. And you couldn’t find a lovelier location for the carnage to transpire than Sorenfjord, ringed by towering rock walls and cooling mists. It’s a chamber of commerce’s dream, sans the hungry, hungry cephalopod, big enough to serve an army calamari for a year.
The movie, albeit flawed, is always fun and best seen with an audience as large as the savage squid. Heck, even its not-so-subtle revamp of “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” registers. So don’t delay. Get crackin’ on “Kraken.”
Movie review
Kraken
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Sara Khorami, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Øyvind Brandtzæg and Jenny Evensen
Director: Pål Øie
Writers: Vilde Elde, Kjersti Helen Rasmussen and Natasha Arthur
Runtime: 89 minutes
Where: In theaters (limited) and streaming June 12
Grade: B-
