Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios / Whalefall Poster (Used under Fair Use)
Chapter 1: Introduction and premise
It was Cineacon 2026. I didn't know what Whale Fall was, but they showed the entire Austin Abrams getting eaten by the whale scene, and I was like, I need to read this book right now. So, I did it. I read the book. I've seen the movie, so let's talk about it. Well, trying not to overuse the phrase, the book did it better, as much as humanly possible.
Chapter 2: Plot overview
So, Whale falls the big screen adaptation of the book by the same name written by Daniel Krauss. Long story short, Josh Brolan plays Mick Gardner, father, also lover of the sea. He dies out to sea. His son, played by Austin Abrams, who had a very tumultuous relationship with him, goes scuba diving for his father's remains, which were never found. He's looking for anything. A body, a bone, any bone. He then has the misfortune of coming across a sperm whale trying to eat a squid. He gets caught up in the middle of nature's feeding time. He gets swallowed by the sperm whale. Now he needs to get out. That's right. It's 127 hours minus 126 of those hours that takes place inside a whale.
Chapter 3: Strengths of the adaptation
First of all, what I liked about the movie, I mean, the survival stuff in the film is actually pretty awesome. It was awesome in the book. It's the hook. The hook being this kid that's inside a stomach who just needs to get out of that stomach before his air runs out, which he has about an hour of air left. The real story being told here, which writer director Brian Dufffield seems to understand, is it's actually a fatherson story. But everything from the whale gobbling him up, which is as intense as can possibly be. I don't know what your phobia is, but if it's getting eaten alive, this movie will hit you. I will say when I was reading the book, it felt like there was less room. Like the stomach felt smaller in the book than it does on screen, which I totally get. When I was reading it, I was like, "How are they going to film this? I feel like it's just going to be like this most of the time." So, when making a judgment call when adapting something to the big screen, the stomach has more room to ironically breathe here. I think that was a good call. Also, Josh Brolan. Josh Brolan's great. When Austin Abrams is in the stomach of this whale, you get flashback scenes of him and Josh Brolan. Well, they're characters anyway. It's the classic case of the flashbacks are not only filling you in on the backstory, but they're used for those Eureka moments of something he learned in the past and now it's like, "Oh, that's how that applies for this very specific moment today. Now I know how to get out of this situation or at the very least advance forward." Right? It's that for the most part, the CGI looked great.
Chapter 4: Technical challenges
I mean, the CGI and the whale gobbling him up scene was awesome. So was the sound design. That's actually one of those moments where I was like, "Yeah, I can see why some people are definitely going to say catch this on the biggest screen possible." What they mean is catch this in a movie theater with the best sound system possible cuz that echolocation, man, it's effective. It's supposed to feel that way because you learn a lot from books. I learned so much about echolocation from this book. Austin Abrams was once again solid. The problem again about the book, dude has to keep the mouthpiece in the entire time he's in the whale's stomach because, well, he can't breathe down there. In which you can get the inner monologue when reading the book because they're words on a page. The answer, I guess, was, "Well, we'll still have him talk." You know, when your mom told you, "Don't talk with your mouth full." This movie shows exactly why. I don't understand. That's right. It's the story of Jonah and the whale starring Kenny from South Park. The whole point, the father-son dynamic and relationship and having that
Chapter 5: Critique of the climax
come together. This movie is book accurate to its detriment. It swings for it. And man, is it trippy. I mean, it's very fast-tracked. The whole father-son dynamic is very Tetus inject from Final Fantasy 10. But man, seeing this swing on screen, I felt like I just dropped a whale volume of acid. I was just there like, what have I? This is tripping me. It lost me. It's going to lose a lot of people. People who are on board for the first
Chapter 5: Critique of the climax (Continued)
two acts, the last act, you might be like, okay, I guess that is an advantage of reading it in a book. You know, you can project whatever you need to project to have this absurd thing actually work for you. The visuals are whatever your visuals are in your head that your brain concocts for you to buy it. This movie is like, "Okay, cheesy infrared whales. Let's do it." To be clear, I thought the flashback scenes between Josh Brolan and Austin Abrams were great, but there was a definite hamstring for your main character and actor to illustrate to the audience the emotion he's feeling in the climax of your film when he has the oxygen piece in his mouth. It didn't get me there. So, what you have are all these scenes of Josh Brolan being a dick and then the movie's like, "Yeah, but it's a movie with some cool scenes in it that doesn't actually stick the emotional landing." Wait, got to get ready for this. The book did it better. In the end, this movie's pretty awesome until it's not.
Chapter 6: Final verdict
It has all the weird from the book, but none of the success of bringing it full circle for that closure. The setup to the drama, the survival stuff, that was all great. The first couple acts it was going good, then it just well fell apart. Leave the audience wanting more. This movie should have been at least 15 minutes shorter. Check it out when it comes out on streaming. Watch the first two thirds, then stop. Are so Whale fall? Have you seen it? What did you think about it? Or what's your favorite close quarters survival story? Limited space and time, survive or die? Whatever it is, whatever you think, comment below, let me know. And as always, if you like what you've seen here and you want to see more, click right here to see more.
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