Orcs

While this movie is far from the best movie that I have ever seen I found it surprisingly good. Maybe its because when I rented out this movie I didn't have great expectations. Sure the acting was pretty average, the story line while making sense wasn't the best. The subtly jokes that it pulled at other movies and just the idea of having orcs as the major villains made the movie funny. While it is considerably short I believe they made a wise move of keeping it at that length as the story line didn't drag.

So in conclusion it's a good movie as long as you don't over think any of it as it is not a smart movie.

If you are looking for LOTR look elsewhere. A stoner ranger, his dim witted trainee and his militant enviormentalist girlfriend fight an invading tribe of orcs at a national park. All the characters are pleasantly two dimensional. Cheesy special effect and costumes. Predictable plot. But fun none-the-less.

In Orcs!, forest rangers Cal (Adam Johnson) and Hobie (Maclain Nelson) battle a horde of mythical monsters from Middle-Earth, who emerge from a mountain to wreak havoc in a National Park. Such a set up is clearly intended to be nothing more than a bit of dumb fun, but while the film is certainly dumb, there's not nearly enough fun, with a lack of decent jokes and scares, and a failure to deliver on the outrageous gore and gratuitous nudity suggested by an early shot of a decapitated head on a stick and the presence of two young hotties in tight vests.

Most notable of all, perhaps, is the distinct lack of actual creatures. Sure, there are plenty of extras running around in cheap looking suits of armour, but as far as identifiable orcs are concerned—you know, ugly critters with real bad complexions and over-sized fangs—well, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. No doubt this was due to budgetary constraints, but the viewer can't help but feel a tad cheated. This is where an excess of gore and a spot of nudity would have come in handy: after all, it doesn't cost a fortune to throw some buckets of blood around and get a few aspiring starlets to strip off, and it sure would have helped matters immensely.

Instead, we get irritating main characters, supposedly 'witty' dialogue that falls flat on its face, one or two unconvincing death scenes, a repetitive over-long night-time siege totally devoid of tension, and a couple of inexplicable pastiches of key scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring which are neither clever nor funny—all of which adds up to an instantly forgettable waste of time.

Well, you know what you are in for when you look at the title of the movie alone. But still, I decided to watch this movie to conquer the boredom.

The movie in itself was a mixed blessing. The camera-work was actually quite good, and the locations and scenery was off the charts. Lots of really nice stuff to look at here. Lots of vibrant colors and locations.

Now, the bad stuff about the movie was the story. Come on, orcs being released from the confined subterranean of a mountain by some miners blasting for ore. Well, alright, why not? But orcs? Come on... And to make matters worse, the orcs resembled nothing more than teenagers running confused around at a live role-playing game event. It was dreadful to look at. And the fighting scenes were rigid and painful to behold.

As for the acting, well, it was not top notch. Unknown names and faces, to me at least, but then again, in a movie like this, I wasn't expecting to see anyone with a named carved for themselves in Hollywood already. There were moments of good acting, but there were also moments of horrendous acting. And the movie wasn't particularly helped along by an exciting dialogue.

All in all, "Orcs!" is a low-budget movie that uses pungent humor and suffers from a terrible storyline. But the movie is set in amazing surroundings, which actually helps make it bearable to watch. If you are bored out of your mind and want some non-brainer movie, "Orcs!" might just be the thing for you.

That is the "Orcs(!)" for you. And while I do like low budget movies with quirky characters, this just has nothing offer. It's one thing to be predictable, it's another thing, not to try to bring at least something unique to the table if you have nothing much more to offer. I'm not sure, if someone really wrote that this is better then LotR. And while tastes differ, you shouldn't really watch this movie with that review in mind .. you'll be devastated in the end.

Unfortunately the actors have nothing much to work with, bad cgi and poor directorial decisions only add to the mess. If you go out and make a movie with no money, at least try to make something different and don't check all the boxes. That's my take on it of course. Was really disappointed in this, there is so much potential for a movie like this ...