About the film (courtesy of 20th Century Studios):
Following the death of his father (Josh Brolin), Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) goes diving off the central Coast of California in search of his remains, but is swallowed by a massive sperm whale. While trapped inside its belly with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to realize that the hard-earned lessons his father imparted may be the key to his escape.
Stepping into the vast, crushing depths of the ocean is rarely a comfortable experience, but Whalefall delivers an intense aquatic thriller that will leave audiences gasping for air as if they were down to their last bits of oxygen. The main focus of the story finds Jay in perilous predicaments beneath the surface after a catastrophic accident leaves him trapped in a literal underwater nightmare.
Rather than letting viewers feel the crushing isolation of a straightforward one-man show, Whalefall cleverly weaves in flashbacks throughout the runtime. This narrative choice greatly improves the watchability, and ultimately the overall enjoyment, of what transpires over basically a taut hour of screen time.
Beyond the immediate physical danger, Whalefall dives deep into the psychological and emotional aspects of the characters. Director and writer Brian Duffield does a solid job of bringing the Daniel Kraus novel to life while making sure that the supporting cast members are given real depth rather than just serving as background placeholders.
It would have been an absolute shame to see the exceptional talents of Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Shue, Jane Levy, and John Ortiz go to waste with flat, uninspired writing. Instead, every performance in Whalefall carries weight, grounding the high-concept impending and unavoidable doom in authentic human emotion and complicated family dynamics.
While the tight pacing and claustrophobic tension keep the momentum moving swiftly, the heavy reliance on memory-lane detours occasionally interrupts the immediate momentum of the dive. Even so, the sheer craftsmanship on display keeps things engaging from start to finish. Whalefall is well worth a watch for anyone looking for a unique, gripping survival story that balances edge-of-your-seat peril with strong character work.
Whalefall is in theaters starting Friday, October 16th.
