Did I watch the preview for Brian Duffield’s Whalefall and expect it to be an Oscar-winning success? No, no I did not. But I am a sucker for “stupid shark movies” like The Meg and 47 Meters Down, so I was actually really looking forward to the film’s release. Here’s why Whalefall is exactly what I needed it to be, and why you probably don’t need to see it.
This was completely avoidable.
A year after his father, who was suffering from Mesothelioma, took his own life, Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) returns home to spend time with his mom and sisters. It’s suggested that Jay and his dad, Mitt (Josh Brolin), had a strained relationship, but when Jay’s sister comments that she hates the idea of their father’s casket being empty, he’s determined to dive to the bottom of the ocean to find his dad’s remains. While searching, a giant squid latches onto him, taking him with it when it’s swallowed by a whale. Jay has limited time to figure out how to escape the whale’s stomach before his oxygen runs out.
For something as ridiculous as being swallowed by a whale, I think there needs to be a better reason why he would be diving in the first place. The film lost me right from the start because I was already asking too many questions.
- In what world was he going to be able to find his dad’s remains at the bottom of the ocean a year after he died?
- As he starts his dive, Jay says to himself, “Just one bone.” But…why? Why does he need a singular bone from his dad’s body?
- Jay couldn’t even get himself to sit at his dad’s grave with his mom. Why does he think he would be able to hold his dad’s bones?
While these are the least unrealistic of the events that happen throughout this movie, they still threw me off and left me asking questions about things I shouldn’t have had to ask questions about. This film is based off of the book Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, which was named Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR. I’m very curious if Jay’s motives and thought process were better explained in the novel.
heavy or humorous?
In recent films, we’ve gotten to see actor Austin Abrams play a unique type of role: the comic relief while going through a really sh*tty situation. As James in Weapons and Bryan in Resident Evil, he executed this combination of horror and humor perfectly. In Whalefall, it seemed like they were trying to utilize Abrams in the same way, and personally, I believe it just made the movie even more jarring than being swallowed by a whale already is.
In one scene, Jay and his father are getting into an incredibly intense argument, and it’s the last time they see each other before his father passes away. In the next, Jay is asking a jellyfish if it has any kids while he’s trying to climb out of a whale stomach. In another scene, a giant squid’s beak is lodged into his hand in a bloody mess that I couldn’t even watch. In the next, whales are swatting orcas away with their tails? I saw this movie with my dad, and we kept looking over at each other and shaking our heads, confused about how we were supposed to be reacting.
Personally, I don’t think the failed attempt at mixing intensity with comedy was at the fault of Abrams’ acting. He was funny when he was supposed to be, serious when he was supposed to be, and screaming at the top of his lungs when he was supposed to be (which was a lot, as you would expect from someone who’s stuck inside a whale). To me, it felt like the writers and director couldn’t make up their mind about how the film was supposed to be received. It tackles really heavy topics about death and father-son relationships (which I’ll get to in a minute), but then…there was the whole whale thing. Even when they tried to merge the two ideas at the end, the whole movie had just been so ridiculous that the conclusion felt like a weird fever dream.
Daddy issues!
At the climax of the film, Jay has an emotional last “conversation” with his father (who became the whale, for some reason?). They talk about their complicated relationship and discover how Jay can escape the whale. Jay seems to finally forgive his father for the way he treated him growing up, and it’s supposed to be a heartfelt moment.
Well, Mitt’s getting no sympathy from me. He just kept sinking himself deeper and deeper into the ocean, making the entire thesis of the movie crumble.
In the flashbacks we see throughout the film, Jay’s dad is extremely hard on him. He tells him he’s not good enough, he’s always yelling at him, and in one scene, he even holds a knife to his face. At the end, you would expect some sort of redemption to make viewers feel a little bad for him, but no. There were just more scenes of him treating Jay horribly.
What really made me mad was when he was holding Jay as a baby. Mitt says they always wanted a son, but when Jay is born, he tells him he’s going to be a bad father and mess him up. He says he’s not good enough for him, and he cries. Instead of saying he’s going to try his best or something, he says something along the lines of, “well, at least I’ll teach you the tools you need to survive.” Mitt never even attempted to be a good father. The only thing Jay ever had to survive was Mitt, so I didn’t care for the way the film tried to incorporate forgiveness.
Don’t even get me started on the supposed hard-hitting line, “Whales are forever.” Mitt, you are an irredeemable character, and that line really hit the nail on the coffin for me.
praise for ‘Whalefall’
Despite the many critiques I have for this film, like I said–I wasn’t expecting it to be good in the first place, so it was still an enjoyable watch for me. While it doesn’t compete with the many other incredible movies of the year, here are my compliments:
- I was freaked out, and I did laugh, despite the fact that I don’t think it went well together.
- The dialogue and dynamic between Jay and his sisters was very relatable and realistic. I could instantly tell he was the youngest of the three.
- The camerawork as Jay stepped into the water successfully gave me anxiety.
- The fight between Jay and Mitt on the boat was incredibly beautiful and emotional. Abrams and Brolin gave a great performance.
- I enjoyed the subtle references to other stories where characters are swallowed by whales. For example, Jay escapes by creating an explosion in the whale’s stomach, which is similar to when Pinocchio lights a fire in the whale’s stomach. Also, Jay’s dad repeatedly says to him, “Sleepers, arise!” which could be a biblical reference to the story Jonah and the Whale.
While Whalefall isn’t the movie of 2026, I think it’s a fun watch if you go into it with the right expectations.