Whalefall
When WHALEFALL is underwater, it's a feast for the eyes and the ears, but when it's on land, things aren't nearly as breathtaking.
The story is simple. Young scuba diver Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) is back in town after the death of his father, local fishing legend Mitt Gardiner (Josh Brolin), diving to find the undiscovered remains of his dad.
In the film's best sequence, Jay sits on an underwater shelf overlooking the brink of the ocean's depth. It reminded me of Ed Harris's stop on an underwater shelf in "The Abyss".
Suddenly, from the depths, a giant squid flies by him, pulling him into a current that's soon dwarfed when a fast moving, incredibly huge 80ft long, 60-ton sperm whale chases the giant squid as a snack.
The entire scene is very well done, with incredible special effects, a dynamite Dolby Cinema sound mix by Christopher Battaglia (Predator: Badlands) and music score by Joseph Trapanese (Oblivion).
To the surprise of no one who has seen the poster or the trailer, Jay is swallowed whole by the whale, with an hour of air left and no visible means of escape.
At this point, the film begins leaning in hard on flashbacks of Jay and his Dad's past, along with glimpses of Jay's sisters and his mom (Elisabeth Shue) and their family history.
Brolin is brutal as Mitt, relentlessly berating and hard on Jay, stretching the line between parenthood and verbal bullying to its limits. Abrams is terrific as Jay, I think we can safely call this the summer of Abrams, between this role and his lead in the hilariously fun "Resident Evil" last month.
While it's obvious that these flashbacks are meant to inform and inspire Jay as he finds himself deep in the vast stomach of the creature, they become repetitive and it starts to feel like someone cut a lesser episode of "This Is Us" with the survival thriller we're all here to see.
Writer/Director Brian Duffield, who's last film "No One Will Save You" I really enjoyed, gets so bogged down in the drama that the film offers no release. This is the same man that wrote "Cocaine Bear" which I loved. He's obviously a very funny dude. This film would have benefited from even a small dose of humor.
Back in the whale's gut, Jay is trapped in an impossible situation, sharing the intestines of a massive creature with a lethal squid, stomach acid and plenty of other surprises.
At several points, I started thinking about the 1966 classic, "Fantastic Voyage" with miniaturized scientists traveling through the human body on a top secret mission. That film still holds up thanks to amazing sets and special effects work (and Raquel Welch in that white bodysuit...but I digress) and WHALEFALL feels a bit like that.
One thing that "Voyage" did right was to map out where the team was within the body, what their exit strategy was, where they needed to get.
Jay's journey of escape grows muddled as you never quite know or understand where he is within the whale. Is he going the right direction? Is he lost? The best sequence is a climb up the whale's blowhole.
It plays well and builds suspense because you can see the finish line and share Jay's struggle to get there.
Abrams is great throughout, basically carrying a one man film on his back for the hour or so that he's trapped inside the gargantuan creature. He performed all his own stunts, including all the underwater scuba scenes, which are impressive.
A 30-foot long sperm whale head and stomach were built with practical effects and used within a 175,000 gallon tank, lending real visual credibility and weight to some of the scenes.
As a survival/adventure film, WHALEFALL and Abrams deliver plenty of slimy, exciting thrills. As a family drama, it bogs down into a repetitive slog. Buried deep within this movie's guts is a fantastic thriller, too bad it spends so much time landlocked to ever reach its full potential.
The final 10 minutes is triumphant by any measure and elevates the film to a B-. In those moments, I found the emotional connection that Duffield was so clearly diving for the previous 90 minutes. It's too bad that most of the flashbacks are just dramatically treading water.
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