The Whisper Man - An OK Enough Crime Thriller Drama Novel Adaptation

There were so many new options available on Netflix this week and I chose to watch this crime thriller movie that was released on Friday. It has interesting premise plus it has well known lead cast that I believe would be good. All right then, let's just get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

When the body of a missing child was found by the search team led by Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan - Little Brother, Bad Monkey TV series etc), it was a major surprise as it was similar to the cases decades before done by the Whisper Man Francis Carter (Michael Keaton - The Flash, Birdman etc) who was already jailed for life. Beck decided to seek advice from the person who caught Francis last time, retired Detective Inspector Pete Willis (Robert De Niro - Zero Day mini series, Raging Bull etc) but he was not interested in helping. 

Meanwhile novel writer Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott - The Monkey, Severance TV series etc) and his young child Jake Kennedy (Acston Luca Porto) moved to his late wife's home for fresh start. Unfortunately though, Jake became the latest kidnapping victim. Due to specific reason, Pete finally agreed to help on the case. With time running out, Pete, Beck and Tom worked on finding out the kidnapper and save Jake.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie had a very intriguing start but somehow there was a strong feeling it would be a slow burn. Turned out it was at first but as the film progressed, there was a bit of intensity that grew with more things revealed. Oh funny thing in the early part there was a scene that was rather surprising and made me think it was a horror movie. After rechecking the info from Netflix though, there was no horror specified anywhere so it must have been something that I guess was just added to the plot.

This time I did not try to deduce or guess anything and just went with the flow. However, I did regret a bit as I did not fully concentrate when watching the movie as I think I might have missed few details in the first half. Anyway this movie somehow felt to have strong book adaptation feel. While seeing the closing credits, I noticed it was indeed based on the novel of same title by Alex North (pen name of Steve Mosby). During the credits, I also saw the names of Russo brothers who were credited as producers. It was directed by James Ashcroft whose prior works included psychological thrillers Coming Home in the Dark and The Rule of Jenny Pen. Btw there was no mid or post end credit scenes.

The story telling in here was pretty standard. It had few surprises that should please people who love such thing in a movie. Nevertheless, I had a feeling that the book was better than the movie with the eerie feeling of the crimes and kidnapper's and victims' state of mind probably described in more details that would raise the intensity. There were some disturbing scenes as well which would explain the R rating in the US. The movie had a pretty satisfying conclusion though I was a bit unhappy with the fate of one of the characters. There was one thing that I thought was not good during the climax, which was the poor decision making of the police which was just borderline negligence. Other than that, it was still OK. 

The cast did decent job here and audience seemed to be enjoying De Niro and Keaton's performance. Aside from the impressive names I mentioned above, there were other important cast of Owen Teague (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Mrs. Fletcher mini series etc) as the kidnapper and Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass mini series, A Midsummer Night's Dream etc) as Norman Collins. The movie itself has a rather long duration of 114 minutes including that long credit scene. I read that critics were not too impressed with the movie as it gotten mixed review. Not too sure about general audience views but in Indonesia it did not even make it to Top 10 after two days (either it was too dark and heavy or the topic was not interesting enough for local subscribers).

Overall this was something that I think was interesting enough. I myself thought it was quite OK though I am not sure what my experience would be if I fully concentrate when watching this. Aside from that lousy thing involving the police in the climax and the fate of one character, I thought it was still acceptable with satisfying conclusion. So if you are interested in a crime thriller drama movie with heavy topic based on well received novel, then you are welcome to give it a try. But if critics opinion matter a lot for you, then you might need to manage your expectation. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars