Strangely enough, Orca actually had some minor success at the box office, but was critically panned as it was deemed too similar to the blockbuster hit, Jaws released two years earlier. Orca is a straight forward cash in. If shark attacks are bringing in an audience, then the, presumably lesser-known Orca will bring them in too. Sadly, for the killer whale, it would experience a very different life on screen as seen in Free Willy and such documentaries as Black Fish. Orca has an exciting story and holds the promise of being entertaining at the least, but the comparison with Jaws is woefully exaggerated. The only element that connects the two films, is that there is a sea creature out for the kill.
After a crew on a fishing boat cruelly and accidentally kill a female orca, its male partner takes revenge by tracking and eventually attacking each member of the crew, particularly the captain.
If a film includes a murderous animal, you would expect some sort of epic chase and some sort of thrill, Orca takes a very different approach to the genre of creature feature. The narrative is simple and the action minimal, with two-dimensional stereotypical characters to populate the screen. Heading up the cast, a raggedy Richard Harris as the captain of the doomed crew, (whose costume budget must have been zero) and an expressionless Charlotte Rampling, who fills the role of orca expert. The chemistry between these two leads is tepid, with the rest of the cast on the whole being ignored. Amongst this mediocrity, there is one star, the murderous orca himself. With the most distressing and visceral scene being the death of the female orca and the aborted orca foetus landing on the deck of the ship, all while the male orca screams in pain and anguish. This does bring up an interesting turning point as an audience can decide whether they are really on the side of the orca rather than the crew.
There are also a few scenes that truly are bizarre, in particular, when the vengeful orca destroys a house on the harbour where the unlucky crew members are staying. This orca literally tears down this structure all from the comfort of the water below, and even gets to take out a crew member as well. The other kills on screen aren’t as satisfying but do fill you with dread as when and where the next victim will be taken.
Overall, Orca is a dissatisfying cheap knockoff of a film. The premise that promises horror and bloodshed with thrills to boot ultimately never delivers. With slow misplaced pacing, no thrills to enjoy and not even any tension, which is very jarring for a revenge story!
Orca; The Killer Whale is available to buy on 4K UHD SteelBook, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital now
