‘The Whisper Man’ is a Run-of-the-Mill Crime Thriller
Robert De Niro, Adam Scott, and Michelle Monaghan in The Whisper Man | Credit: Netflix
After the death of his wife, Tom (Adam Scott) and his son, Jake (Acston Luca Porto), relocate to a new town where a serial killer once terrorized the town.
The premise of The Whisper Man is your standard serial killer set-up, but the cast for this film is exceptional. Honestly, I hoped for more from this film with such incredible talent attached to it.
Robert De Niro plays Peter Willis, a retired detective who’s filled with regret and worked the initial serial killer case decades ago. You feel his loneliness, his grief, and how he’s haunted by this case. After so many decades in the business, De Niro’s still got it!
Michelle Monaghan is Detective Beck, the cop working the current case, racing against the clock to find a boy who’s gone missing. Sadly, this character is underwritten; we don’t know anything about her other than this case that she’s working on.
Michael Keaton makes a bone-chilling appearance as Frank Carter, the incarcerated serial killer. He brings an evil delight to this character that is both terrifying and entertaining. Keaton has some great moments throughout the film, particularly when he’s going toe-to-toe with De Niro.
Adam Scott absolutely nails the grieving father who is at the end of his rope. He is consumed with regret while battling his own demons and facing his own difficult past. You can’t help but feel for this father who’s going through the worst moments of his life, and I credit a lot of that to Scott’s performance.
Still, despite such a fantastic cast, the film is only mediocre. It has this atmospheric eeriness that had the potential to be really interesting, but ends up falling flat. There are also some odd, almost supernatural choices that the film makes that feel out of place, but with some different writing could’ve been a really interesting part of the story.
Unfortunately, The Whisper Man is like what you see with many Netflix films—it’s entertaining enough but also predictable enough that you watch while cooking dinner or folding laundry and not feel as though you’ve missed anything.
It’s a shame because the story at the center of the film isn’t a bad one. It just doesn’t do anything inspired or innovative within this really well-established genre. And with so many truly fantastic FBI-chasing-a-serial-killer films and shows, when one comes up short, it’s especially frustrating.
The Whisper Man is just a run-of-the-mill film that could’ve been exceptional. Once again, a Netflix original had a good premise and fantastic cast, but for some reason, the final product isn’t a home run.