My quick rating – 5.9/10. The cast caught my attention for The Whisper Man. Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Keaton? That is a pretty impressive collection of people to assemble for a movie about a missing kid and a creepy serial killer. Surely these people know what they’re doing.
The movie opens with an overhead shot of a suspiciously quiet little town, where a police search party is combing through the woods. Michelle Monaghan appears to be leading the operation as they uncover a body. Unfortunately, it isn’t the eight-year-old boy, Neil Spencer, they’re looking for. So, you know, things are going great.
When his son is abducted, widowed crime writer Tom (Scott) turns to his estranged father, retired police detective Peter Willis (De Niro), for help. Their investigation eventually connects the disappearance to a decades-old case involving convicted serial killer Frank Carter, aka “The Whisper Man,” played by Michael Keaton. And what a great choice Keaton is for that role. Also, not a spoiler. He is already in prison. The movie tells you this pretty much immediately, so we’re not exactly blowing the lid off the mystery here.
There is some nice camerawork throughout. The movie has a habit of putting important things just out of focus or partially obscured in the frame, allowing you to catch little details without someone standing there yelling, “HEY, LOOK AT THIS IMPORTANT THING!” I caught and immediately appreciated it.
Unfortunately, the story itself is pretty straightforward. There aren’t many twists trying to outsmart you, and that’s perfectly fine. Not every mystery needs to perform gymnastics just to make the audience feel stupid. The problem is that some of the things the movie does introduce aren’t given enough attention.
The whole storyline involving the girl in the blue sweater was particularly frustrating. It’s introduced, barely utilized, and never adequately explained. Thanks, movie. Very helpful.
Then there are the connections between the characters, the house, the murders, and the eventual final confrontation. Getting all those pieces to fit together requires a generous suspension of disbelief. Maybe Alex North‘s novel explains some of this better, because the movie certainly doesn’t seem interested in stopping to fill in the gaps.
I don’t like second-guessing characters in situations I’ve obviously never experienced, but there were moments where the pieces were sitting right there for a much smoother conclusion, only for the movie to basically shrug and walk past them.
That would be a brick. That is all I’m saying. It’ll make sense when you watch it.
Ultimately, The Whisper Man is a quality production with solid acting and some good visual work. But with this cast, I expected to be wowed. Instead, I was mildly entertained, somewhat intrigued, and repeatedly wondering why he didn’t use the very obvious thing sitting right in front of him. Duh.
