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On the heels of Jaws we get this
Moby Dickish flick, but it's actually a pretty good movie with
some intense and disturbing scenes. Although it was released to
capitalize on the shark-flick's success, it's easily strong enough
to make it on it's own and it's not disappointing if you're a
Jaws fan.
A
fisherman decides to capture a live killer whale just to prove
he can, instead he wounds her and causes her to miscarry her baby,
both die. Her mate then follows and terrorizes until he's given
his vengeance.
Maybe
I'm biased about this movie because it's really a morality play
about how we thoughtlessly torture and kill any animal that has
the bad luck of encountering us. And unlike in the real world,
in this movie the animal gets treated like the good guy, even
when he's nipping at f Bo Dereks legs.
In
comparison, Jaws caused thousands of shark-killings because
everyone saw how much they deserved to die in the movie. Orca,
however, makes you look at things from the other side and see
that maybe humans deserve to get eaten from time to time.
Either
way, Orca is a little slow at times and can't be fairly
compared to Jaws except that it has a better ending. Not
that Jaws ended badly, but Orca ended better. Orca
is far better than any of the Jaws sequels, but then I
can't really think of many movies that aren't. I've made bigger
budget home movies than Jaws 4, with better acting.
Orca
makes a great triple-feature with Jaws and Jaws II next time you're
in the mood for seaside slaughter. And I do really like this movie,
the idea of a killer whale stalking you is a good one.
7
out of 10 times Bo really did look good enough to eat
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