After witnessing the killing of his mate and offspring at the hands of a reckless Irish captain, a vengeful killer whale rampages through the fisherman's Newfoundland harbor. Under pressure from the villagers, the captain, a female marine biologist, and an Indigenous tribalist venture after the great beast, who will meet them on its own turf.
Working my way through some Jaws knock-offs with this and Piranha, but Orca is a darker affair and more complex in many ways. It's also clear that - unlike these other movies - the Killer Whale is the victim here! All the attempts to make Richard Harris's Nolan a sympathetic lead are thrown out of the window when he kills a female Orca and she aborts her unborn foetus onto the deck of his boat, which he then TAKES A HOSE TO AND WASHES OVERBOARD. - all in full view of the now-vengeful male.
aRE YOU EXPECTING ME TO waNt ANYTHING BUT a BLOodY DEATH TO BEFALL YOU Richard?!
Thankfully the movie knows it, and much like Taken or John Wick, you get to see the titular character systematically and brutally take out the bad guys one by one until the only one left is the ring leader who slaughtered his wife and unborn child.
Working my way through some Jaws knock-offs with this and Piranha, but Orca is a darker affair and more complex in many ways. It's also clear that - unlike these other movies - the Killer Whale is the victim here! All the attempts to make Richard Harris's Nolan a sympathetic lead are thrown out of the window when he kills a female Orca and she aborts her unborn foetus onto the deck of his boat, which he then TAKES A HOSE TO AND WASHES OVERBOARD. - all in full view of the now-vengeful male.
aRE YOU EXPECTING ME TO waNt ANYTHING BUT a BLOodY DEATH TO BEFALL YOU Richard?!
Thankfully the movie knows it, and much like Taken or John Wick, you get to see the titular character systematically and brutally take out the bad guys one by one until the only one left is the ring leader who slaughtered his wife and unborn child.
Excellent score by Ennio Morricone.
Micah Lara
10.0★ · 07/20/25
This is my Norm Rockwell freedom of speech painting opinion.
This movie is just as good as Jaws.
This is my Norm Rockwell freedom of speech painting opinion.
This movie is just as good as Jaws.
Nick
8.0★ · 06/25/25
**The best Jawsploitation, sorry Piranha. **I hope that they were nice to the whales on set but it was the mid 70s so probably not.
**The best Jawsploitation, sorry Piranha. **I hope that they were nice to the whales on set but it was the mid 70s so probably not.
