Easily the best of the Jaws rip-offs, this poignant and tragic film is sort of a reverse Moby Dick, exploring complex topics such as animal rights, guilt, and obsession. Richard Harris turns in a fantastic performance as Nolan, a fisherman who attempts to capture an orca to sell to an aquarium, but horribly botches the job, slaughtering a pregnant female and prompting its mate to seek revenge. As the carnage unfolds, Nolan’s guilt deepens as he comes to identify with the grief-stricken beast, having lost his own wife and child to a drunk driver. A somber and powerful film that definitely stands out from the crowd. While it never completely escapes the shackles of its rip-off status, it does come closer than any of the others to matching the quality of its parent film, albeit with a decidedly different tone. At least as good as Jaws 2, I highly reccomend it to any fan of the sub-genre.
This is a really, really wonderful synopsis. Would you mind if when I update the Orca page with it’s media and artwork that I use your synopsis under the description part? What a great review!
And yes — I have this on VHS and DVD. I believe the DVD went out of print but there are many, many copies floating around on eBay (the VHS version, too)! Thanks for stopping by and keep checking in for more updates!
September 15, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Easily the best of the Jaws rip-offs, this poignant and tragic film is sort of a reverse Moby Dick, exploring complex topics such as animal rights, guilt, and obsession. Richard Harris turns in a fantastic performance as Nolan, a fisherman who attempts to capture an orca to sell to an aquarium, but horribly botches the job, slaughtering a pregnant female and prompting its mate to seek revenge. As the carnage unfolds, Nolan’s guilt deepens as he comes to identify with the grief-stricken beast, having lost his own wife and child to a drunk driver. A somber and powerful film that definitely stands out from the crowd. While it never completely escapes the shackles of its rip-off status, it does come closer than any of the others to matching the quality of its parent film, albeit with a decidedly different tone. At least as good as Jaws 2, I highly reccomend it to any fan of the sub-genre.
September 15, 2010 at 3:52 pm
This is a really, really wonderful synopsis. Would you mind if when I update the Orca page with it’s media and artwork that I use your synopsis under the description part? What a great review!
And yes — I have this on VHS and DVD. I believe the DVD went out of print but there are many, many copies floating around on eBay (the VHS version, too)! Thanks for stopping by and keep checking in for more updates!
March 16, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Hey, nice site you got here! Keep up the good work