‘Orca: The Killer Whale’ or — Lows On The High Seas?
I remember watching ‘Orca: The Killer Whale’ (1977) as a young kid and kinda liking it (I videoed it off the TV). Sure, I knew it was a sub-standard ‘Jaws’ knockoff but I liked the Canadian/Arctic setting and the whales looked cool. But some things, like a childhood memory or a killer whale in its natural environment, should be left alone for the consequences could be terrible indeed.
‘Orca: The Killer Whale’ is a tough movie to sit through and for one very simple reason. It’s not because it’s an obvious cash-in on Spielberg’s blockbuster, or the lacklustre direction or even the fact that the story bears a resemblance to ‘Jaws: The Revenge’ (1987) which is never a good thing. No, ‘Orca: The Killer Whale’ is a bad movie because it is exceptionally nasty, depressing and completely lacking in humour or life.
The film starts with the brutal killing of Orca’s wife (I’m not a marine biologist and these animals are heavily anthropomorphised so let’s just go with that) and unborn child… and it is HORRIBLE! What with all the blood, gore, whale-miscarriage, dying whale-foetus and loud, incessant whale-screaming it’s a nasty opening to a movie. It’s grim! And the tone of the movie never recovers or lifts from there. Charlotte Rampling seems to be misery incarnate, never once cracking a smile, whilst Richard Harris is so deeply unlikable that I not only wished him dead but that his character had never been born in the first place. And what sort of fisherman is so ignorant of killer whales that he doesn’t even know they are mammals?
The story is stupid but goes something like this — after accidentally killing Mrs Orca and Jr, Captain Nolan (Harris) is told by the villagers that he has done a bad thing (no shit). Not only that but Mr Orca is pissed and now out for revenge so he starts terrorising the village, destroying boats and also (somehow) the town’s fuel depot which he manages to blow-up.
Dr Rachel Bedford (Rampling) becomes attracted to Captain Nolan for absolutely NO reason whatsoever but does tell him that orcas are almost human, that they think language is “retarded” and that ten seconds of whale song contains more information than the entire Bible (even though I’m not a marine biologist I suspect that might not be true) but doesn’t explain how one can blow-up a fuel depot located a mile or so inland. She also tells Captain Nolan the whale is out for revenge and wants to fight him on the open sea where he can exact his revenge.
Having also lost his wife and unborn child, although they were killed in a car-crash and not by fishermen, Captain Nolan has some sympathy for Mr Orca and refuses to be lured into this battle of vengeance, but after Mr Orca bites off Bo Derek’s leg Captain Nolan says enough is enough and sets out in his boat with his crew to take on the leviathan. Things don’t go well for Nolan, his crew or the audience.
As I said, it’s not just that ‘Orca’ is derivative, boring and plodding but that the entire film is executed in such a morbid and depressing fashion that it’s a drag. There is never, unlike ‘Jaws’, any levity even for a second to perk things up or provide any contrast. Ennio Morricone’s score, which isn’t bad, doesn’t help as it is woefully funereal, emphasising the grief but providing zero excitement or thrills.
‘Jaws: The Revenge’ is a bad film but at least you can laugh at how bad it is. There is nothing in ‘Orca: The Killer Whale’ to even raise a smile. It’s just grim and sad and, ultimately, very depressing.
