FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

OllieSuave-007 This is a made-for-TV movie that somewhat follows the same plot element of Jaws, but instead of featuring a gigantic Great White Shark, it features a gigantic squid. It takes place off the coast in a place called Graves Point, where divers vanish, and sea biologist Dr. Whip Talley (William Petersen) investigates.The special effects were pretty good and the suspense of the menacing tentacled creature keeps you on the edge of your seat at times. However, the pacing in the plot is a little slow and ***spoiler ahead, but doesn't give away ending*** the creature in my opinion does not appear enough and when it is, you could hardly see it ***spoiler ends***.There is also limited action and lots of all-talk. However, it is still pretty suspenseful and you could see it at least once for the fun of it.Grade C

Coventry Well intended but pretty boring – especially since it's nearly three hours long – monster movie about a small fisherman community named Grace Point that has a bit of a sea creature problem. It starts with the disappearance of a young couple out on a sailing trip and then it takes an awful long time (again, this movie is freaking three hours long!) before anything remotely significant happens. Thanks to the discovery of one miserable little claw, however, highly respected fisherman Whip Dalton can derive they're up against a 60ft tall squid. With his knowledge, this guy should have been the assistant of Steve Irwin. Maybe then he would still be alive today! Anyways, because of the so-called "trap-fishing" that became quite popular in Grace Point, there's hardly any fish left near the coastal town and the octopus' natural source of food is as good as extinct. This leaves the creature no choice but to go after the inhabitants of Grace Point instead. Naturally, and in good old-fashioned "Jaws" tradition, the arrival of the squid coincides with the annual town's festival and there are obviously a lot of people that want to make tons of money on the account of the exceptionally large sea monster. Of course, you can't really blame writer Peter Benchley for ripping off "Jaws", as he himself was also the creator of "Jaws". Since this is a three hour long movie (not sure if I emphasized that little detail already) there's also a whole lot of tedious, dreadful and irrelevant nonsense going on in this film. Multiple romantic sub plots, for example, involving the leading man's slow progress towards a first new relationship since the passing of his wife. Ironically enough, he eventually falls for a female coast guard member who isn't ready for a new lover in her life either. Whip Dalton's teenage daughter discovers the meaning of love for the first time in her life as well, and her story is actually hilarious if you're a cynical bastard who finds joy in the agony of others. Throughout the entire first half of the movie, this girl nags that she's stuck in a small fisherman town without cute boys, yet when she meets the oceanologist's young assistant and spends a few romantic days with him, he subsequently gets eaten by the squid. There, I just summarized altogether 60 minutes of running time for you. The second half of the film is dragging and dull, with overlong and unnecessary sequences and a sub plot that is directly stolen from "Orca – the Killer Whale" (another "Jaws" imitation) suggesting that the octopus is killing with a grudge. For you see, a couple of over-anxious hunters claimed they eliminated the monster, whereas they only killed a baby species. In the second half of the film, mommy returns with a vengeance. The make-up effects and squid models are quite good, especially the baby-squid corpse that floats around on the water surface throughout the entire second part. Decent acting performances and good casting decisions as well, with Charles Martin Smith ("The Untouchables") as the obnoxious bureaucrat mayor and Larry Drake ("Darkman", "Dr. Giggles", "Dark Night of the Scarecrow") as the sleazy, drunken and loud-mouthed troublemaker in town. "The Beast" certainly isn't a bad film, but I just wished I watched the short and simple version instead.

Dave Anderson When i 1st saw this movie , i was amazed with the story line , and the entire plot of the movie a 60 feet giant squid (not to mention that this movie cant be considered sci-fi , as giant squid exist and they can grow to 100 feet and they will eat anything , as well as have the power to sink a small ship ) . They only made 1 mistake in the movie , when the doctors tell his assistant , that the hook is from the Archeuthis Dux , while in real life the giant squid aka Archeuthis Dux , has only ring with small teeth surrounding it , and the colossal squid has hooks . The full miniseries covers a lot of the plot without it the movie isn't as interesting . The way i see it , this movie own jaws ! Peter B. did a great job , the squid looks exactly as it looks in real life . 10/10

john22900 First of all let me get one thing out of the way right up front. I like the actor William Petersen and I like his understated style of acting. He is never over-the-top and chews the scenery. He is also a very likable actor which is one reason why the CSI show is so popular. In fact, I think Petersen is such a good actor I would've really liked him to tackle the part of the lead character in the forthcoming adaptation of Don Brown's book which is going to star Tom Hanks instead which I believe is a colossal blunder of casting in my personal opinion. Don't get me wrong, I love Tom Hanks and his movies but for that part I think he is all wrong. But who knows he may prove me wrong.Now getting back to THE BEAST. I mostly liked the film but besides the inevitable comparisons with Jaws, Tentacles and Orca, the fact remains the beast was not very believable and even worse not particularly scary. I don't know if posters remember an Ed Wood film from the 50's called BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. It starred Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist who lived in a laboratory on the suburbs of a small town. For recreation, he fed some of the local inhabitants to a giant squid or octopus he keeps in his basement. The climax involved Lugosi being hoisted on his own petard and it is still quite a sight seeing Lugosi flailing about in the arms of the octopus wrapping them around himself to make it appear the thing is crushing him to death. Laughable to say the least. While THE BEAST does not come close to that sort of ineptitude, the stock cliché characters and the unbelievability/incredulity of the beast is almost enough to sink what otherwise could have been a great movie. Not bad for a time waster but if you have Jaws watch it instead.