While this movie is decent, it is one of the poorest adaptations of a novel that I can think of. Benchley's novel is an extremely well written (if not a tad unoriginal) and slowly building story that echo's back to his masterpiece, 'Jaws'.
This is a made for TV movie, so its hard to expect too much. The script,
acting, effects, and overall direction are not particularly overwhelming. Taking these limitations into account however, we still get a decently made and entertaining movie.
Alot of cheap plot devices (the baby squid fiasco, the Petersen/Sillas romantic tension, over exaggerated climax, etc) all stray far from the source material and don't add much to the final product. Still beats the snot out of pretty much any Sci-Fi original and 90% of other made for TV films.
October 3, 2011
