The last place Johanne, a workaholic government biologist, wants to be is Vangsnes, a fishing village at the mouth of a fjord. She used to live there with her colleague and ex, Erik. When project developing a repellent for salmon parasites crashed and burned, she left him and her failure behind. However, he claims to have subsequently perfected it for Avaldsnes, a salmon farm owner, who hopes to secure a major infusion of Japanese capital.
Obviously, the parasite development is a big part of the pitch. However, the side effects have stirred something up. Whatever it is, it caused schools of fish to beach themselves on shore, out of sheer fright, according to the muckraker video sent to Johanne’s agency. Yes, seriously.
Naturally, Avaldsnes won’t stop the transmission until it is way too late. Naturally, he also stands to lose the most, since his wife Henriette, Johanne’s childhood pal, is the town cop and their daughter Maria is the self-styled whistle-blower.
Although Kraken is a kaiju movie, it also continues the tradition of Norwegian Irwin Allen-style disaster movies, like Øie’s The Tunnel. The effects are surprisingly professional, but the cast is rather wooden. Honestly, Sara Khorami and Mikkel Bratt Silset have zero chemistry Johanne and Erik. In contrast, Øyvind Brantzaeg and Steinar Klouman Hallert are believably desperate, rather than nefarious, as Avaldsnes and his plant manager Cato.
Indeed, it is all pretty goofy. Supposedly, this is a cautionary story exposing the risks of ignoring science, but the screenwriters never even attempt a double-talk explanation of why transmissions that repel salmon parasites have the opposite effect on the kaiju. Apparently, it just riled him up. However, the big kaiju battle scene delivers many entertainingly over-the-top moments. Dumb but amusing, Kraken releases tomorrow (6/12) in theaters and on VOD.
