MOBY SICK
WHALEFALL (15)
Director: Bria. Duffield
Screenplay: Brian Duffield, Daniel Kraus
Starring: Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue
Running time: 106 minutes
Cinema
Review: David Stephens
Consider the words ‘Eaten’ and ‘Alive’. Kept apart, they’re totally acceptable. Put them immediately after one another, and you get absolute nightmare fuel that horror has exploited for years. If it’s not a cannibal in unexplored territory munching on your intestines and private parts, then it’s a natural predator (or unnatural monster) having a nibble on your bits. The sheer terror of being torn apart and/or ingested whilst still conscious will forever be humanity’s darkest terror. Jordan Peele’s Nope most recently illustrated this. Whatever you thought of the rest of it, the short sequence where the massive sentient UFO (‘Jean Jacket’) sucks up dozens of helpless screaming victims, wraps them in fleshy folds, and proceeds to digest them, is primal fear in its purest form. So, when Whalefall (by Daniel Kraus, who is well-known for his collaborations with George A. Romero and Guillermo del Toro) was published, the unusual concept (man accidentally consumed by an 80-foot sperm whale) was a shoo-in for cinematic treatment. It’s been directed and produced by Brian Duffield, who also made the alien survival thriller No One Will Save You. Starring (fresh from Raccoon City) Austin Abrams and (Thanos himself) Josh Brolin, it’s now opened its maw in cinemas around the world. But is it a marine marvel or a whale-fail?
The first scene shows a clearly ill man (Brolin as Mitt Gardiner) coughing painfully whilst aboard his fishing boat at sea. He calmly ties diving weights around his waist and jumps into the water. Sometime after his suicide, his estranged son (Abrams as Jay Gardiner) returns to the seaside family home, where his mother (Elisabeth Shue as Zara) and older sisters (Jane Levy as Eva and Emily Rudd as Nan) are still coming to terms with the loss and the lack of a body in the grave. The introverted Jay harbours ill feelings and regret towards his father, due to a strict upbringing and an altercation they had before he left home. As he represses his feelings and some of the actions of his departed Dad, he decides to scuba dive in the area to recover his corporeal remains, hoping for some form of belated reconciliation. With only an hour's worth of air, he descends towards an underwater canyon in the slim hope of spotting some bones. But he is momentarily startled by a giant squid as it rises suddenly from the darkness and speeds past him. Following this, a huge sperm whale appears in pursuit of the tasty tentacles. Unwittingly caught in the middle of this hunt, Jay is inadvertently grabbed by the squid as it flails for escape whilst in the whale's jaws. Then the unthinkable happens as the hapless diver is accidentally swallowed and recovers consciousness actually inside the creature’s stomach. It’ll take the memories of his father and a whole lot of luck to escape suffocation and death in this ‘Un-fantastic Voyage’.
When the trailer first appeared, those that hadn’t read the book (or maybe even those that had) were impressed by the way in which the ingestion sequence was depicted and had high hopes for the film. However, some doubts lingered as to how a feature-length film could capture the… err… capture of Jay and his journey (or lack of physical one) within the body of the whale. Given that the film is 1 hr 46 min long and is essentially a ‘one location’ drama, this could have been a problem, and indeed this has cropped up as an issue in many reviews. Around 60-70% of the film is set in one ‘pocket’ of the whale’s gut. Think of Buried (2010) or Cube (1997), but with a lot more intestinal action. The narrative gets around this by bookending the story arc with Jay’s family and providing frequent flashbacks to his troubled relationship with Mitt. And it works surprisingly well for the most part. We get an effective juxtaposition of Jay’s turbulent dealings with his father, alongside frantic and gooey escapades in the claustrophobic, fleshy prison that he tries to escape from. There’s a touch of the MacGyvers as he marries his flawed childhood teachings with the ‘tools’ he finds at hand. Rather than knives and torches, think squid beaks and jellyfish!
All of this is helped by the acting of Abrams, who has to carry yet another film (weeks after the success of Resident Evil) almost entirely by himself for long stretches. And he absolutely does. It’s interesting to note that Jay is completely different in character to his roles in Resi and Weapons, being a much more repressed and introverted individual with hidden qualities. Asking the actor to emote and drive long sequences whilst both: a) talking only to himself (or a jellyfish) and b) speaking lines of dialogue whilst chomping down on a respirator. It makes sense, as the toxic air in the whale means he is reliant on his air supply for survival (putting a strict time limit on his escape). But you do get the impression that many people will switch on the subtitles, so they can understand Abrams quote lines like “I’m being chewed!” or “I’m in the fucking whale!” All that aside, he is great in a physical and emotive role, particularly when he acts opposite the great Brolin in the flashbacks, where you completely get the animosity between the two. It’s difficult to think of another actor who could portray the hard-to-like father in such a perfect way. And whilst it is in the nature of the story, you can’t help but feel that Shue and the rest of the female cast are wasted in their minimal roles, when they could have potentially added more to the flashbacks or other moments.
The best parts of the film are undoubtedly contained in the first half and the initial moments within the belly of the beast. It’s a surreal type of body horror and primal terror that bites deep, exploring the worst kind of fears. Being helpless prey, subjected to forces beyond control, and knowing things are only going to get worse. It also exploits classic biological horror and sneaks in some genre tropes. So, alongside the whole no-air and crushing walls issue, there’s also the nightmare of the still-living squid in the vicinity and digestive juices. One of the best sequences (apart from the swallowing) sees Jay slowly compacted against the squid until he is literally eye-to-eye with it (*shudder*). And then there’s the moment that he forces his way into another part of the whale’s biosystem, where he gradually realises that it’s full of corrosive stomach acid and his hands are slowly melting away. All genuinely terrifying stuff and handled really well with practical effects (sometimes operated by up to 12 crew members at the same time). It’s (literal) gut-wrenching stuff at times, with Jay getting an increasing number of injuries and challenges thrown at him, alongside the emotional trauma that is revealed during the flashbacks and his internal monologues. It’s in these moments that Whalefall really shines and comes close to being a pure genre experience.
However, as the narrative progresses, the intensity of the story and situation is lost somewhat. There are some supremely silly moments, such as Jay developing a “friendship” with a jellyfish on a sock, or the whale apparently hovering in mid-breach whilst a tiny-headed individual says “Halp”. But these mostly work in the context and drive the momentum of the attempted escape forward. Towards the end, however (and this is arguably an issue in the novel too), things do get really mawkish and overly sentimental, which dilutes a lot of the tension that’s built. Whilst being trapped in the whale was always a physical metaphor for Jay being stifled by his memories and repressed grief, it feels like a step too far for the huge beast to become a full-on replacement for his father, and for him to address it as such. The last few significant scenes are just basically lessons in how each person should never be afraid to ask for help from their family or friends, or that no one is really alone, etc, etc. All well and good and worthy, but it just saps all the tension out of the last acts and becomes really maudlin. Rather than a definitive ending, it just feels like low-key moralising. Of course, this is all subjective but given the imagination and intensity of some of the earlier sequences, it comes across as underwhelming by the time the end credits roll.
As an aside, and this is no way changes the good and bad issues around Whalefall, but it might be worth mentioning that a 4DX screening appears to be one of the few times when that platform improves the viewing. By the time Jay is consumed, you’ll be as black and blue, and as wet as he is. We’re not so sure that a whale’s stomach is that smoky, though. It’s an option, though, should you want to choose it, and it’s one of the better conversions to the format. Ignoring cinema gimmicks, the film is still worth a visit. Abrams (who did all his own stunts and diving) and Brolin are excellent, and the early parts of the film are inspired and compelling. The impetus and genre elements are lost in later sequences, when it all becomes a bit more existential and emotionally driven. It’s all down to personal taste, of course, but the limits of the concept and the later focus on these elements might be why it has had a decent critical reception but doesn’t seem to be drawing in the crowds (at least, in the US). So, in a clamshell, that’s the film. It’s good, and is great in parts, but it sinks slightly at the end. Sea what you think if you get the chance.
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