Kraken (2026) by Pål Øie

Director: Pål Øie

Year: 2026

Country: Norway

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Creature Feature

Plot:

Working for the Norwegian government, a marine biologist is called out to a remote fjord in the countryside to investigate a series of distressing claims about the wild fish in the area as a new fish farm is about to open, eventually finding it to be home to a massive sea creature.

Review:

On the whole, this was a somewhat disappointing if still watchable genre effort. Among the better factors to be had here is the strong central build-up that takes place, which serves to signal something is going on in the area. The idea of the few attacks taking place here while no one is around to witness what’s happening, the series of inquests into their whereabouts while trying to observe the functionality of the fjord as a suitable location for the new fish farm to help enhance declining local populations, and the burgeoning series of claims about unnatural behavior from the wildlife living there all serve build up the kind of atmosphere that works well in these kinds of monster movies. As we get further along and manage to dive deeper into the various bits of scientific research that paint this all as the work of a new species that shouldn’t be there, it creates an immensely intriguing series of ideas about the creature’s presence being true.

The other enjoyable bit here about the film is the antics of the creature itself, as this is where it manages to work incredibly well in evoking this sense of scale and menace of the creature. The opening attack, taking a pair of jet skiers in the area who are unaware of its presence, gives this a fantastic opening to get everything going as it hints that something is down there. Later scenes, including a fishing boat getting attacked or a kayaking troupe getting dragged underwater, continue this solid build-up of creature attacks incredibly well, helping to aid the concurrent series of scientific discoveries taking place about its existence as well. The big setpiece sequence of it attacking the research station in place, trying to monitor everything in the fjord, manages to get some genuinely effective moments as the full size and scale of the creature come into play, throwing victims around or grabbing them and dragging them away as it leads into an innovative, creative finish to everything. These all manage to create a lot to like.

There are a few big issues here keeping this down. The main drawback to the film is a significantly underwhelming and rather bland tempo that makes this one take forever to get going and get to the creature action. The big attacks being used to demonstrate the creatures’ presence in the fjord manage to help enhance the build-up about it being there, but the fact that there’s far too much of this type of investigation in the first half, where it makes the attacks so brief and infrequent, means that those not following the storyline will have a bit of a problem keeping up with the lack of action by keeping everything locked down around the fjord. This leads to the other issue here, which is understandable enough for the type of film this is, where the CGI for the creature is plainly obvious in what it’s trying to do and perform in the sequences we see of it, making for a discernible lack of immersion once it happens. These are the big issues here that bring it down.

Overview: ***.5/5

A rather fun and likable old-school monster movie, there’s plenty of enjoyable factors within here that manage to hold this one up over a few small drawbacks that hold it down. Those with an appreciation for the approach taken here, who are curious about it, or just enjoy creature features in general, will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.