Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep is set in a stretch of Ocean called the Desolation Passage where marine archaeologist Nicole (Victoria Pratt) & her crew are searching for a couple of legendary Greek artifacts, a ceremonial Trojan war mask & a hugely valuable Opal. Unfortunately Nicole & her crew are hampered by a few unforeseen problems, first off is Maxwell Odemus (Jack Scalia) the son of a Greek mafia gangster who wants the two relics returned to Greece by any means necessary & there's also the small fact that a gigantic squid is guarding the precious bounty & basically kills anyone who goes near it. Can Nicole beat the odds, find the treasure & become famous or will she & her crew end up as squid food?<br /><br />Directed by Tibor Takacs this is yet another by-the-numbers Nu Image produced creature feature the likes of which I'm sick of. The script by Sean Keller & Brian D. Young has all the usual clichés & plot devices these creature features do, there's the beautiful female scientist, a rugged male hero type, there's the disposable character's who are included for no other reason other than to be killed & of course there's the assortment of bad guys who want something valuable that some mutated badly CGI animated creature of some sort is either guarding or is just generally in the way of. There really isn't anything original, fresh or new about Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep at all & quite frankly it's a bit of a chore to sit through, there are already loads of these bad killer creature feature type films out there & this doesn't do the sub genre's reputation any favours. I sat there thinking I'd already this dozens of times before & I'm right, scientists look for something, get attacked by monster, hero kills monster & saves girl at the end, that's all there is too it. The character's are bland & forgettable as is the dialogue, the giant squid isn't in it nearly enough & doesn't do anything particularly special when it does make an appearance. It's all very predictable & isn't even unintentionally funny, if you really like these creature features, someone out there has to or they wouldn't keep making them, then you'll probably enjoy Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep to some extent but for those of us who are really bored of this type of film I urge you to steer well clear of it.<br /><br />Director Takacs was once a decent genre filmmaker with titles like The Gate (1987) & I, Madman (1989) but he seems to have gone down the creature feature route with dreck like this, Rats (2003), Mansquito (2005), Ice Spiders (2007) & his latest epic MegaSnake (2007)! This made-for-TV film is quite well made, the giant squid CGI computer effects aren't as bad as I had expected although that's not to say they are good. The version I saw was titled Deadly Waters which is what it was shot under, apparently the Sci-Fi Channel's website held a competition for fans to come up with a better title & I guess Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep won which I suppose is why the word 'Kraken' is never used in the film itself. Forget about any gore, there's a severed leg, some blood & a cool decapitation by fishing line but nothing else that graphic or worth mentioning. I'm also sorry to inform you that there is no nudity at all.<br /><br />The supposed budget of about $2,100,000 doesn't sound too bad actually so it's a surprise that overall the film is rather flat, bland & forgettable. The acting isn't great from nobody worth mentioning.<br /><br />Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep is another creature feature that is virtually indistinguishable from any other, catch it on the Sci-Fi Channel for sure but don't go wasting your money on it.