Vague Visages’ Whalefall review contains minor spoilers. Brian Duffield’s 2026 movie features Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin and Elisabeth Shue. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

Whalefall isn’t the first case of a movie failing to live up to its attention-grabbing elevator pitch, but it’s certainly one of the most disappointing. On paper, it’s a can’t-miss recipe for the perfect popcorn movie; a hapless scuba diver (Jay, played by Austin Abrams) gets swallowed by a sperm whale after venturing too far below the surface, with only an hour to escape before his oxygen tank runs out. It’s as elemental a ticking-clock thriller conceit as you can get, but director Brian Duffield’s film — adapted from a novel of the same name by co-screenwriter Daniel Kraus — is less interested in the gruesome survival story than the poorly written and flatly dramatized father/son drama gradually doled out in flashbacks.  

In a Weapons (2025) reunion devoid of the distinct personality and dark humor that’s made Zach Cregger one of Hollywood’s most in-demand genre filmmakers, Josh Brolin plays Jay’s dad Mitt. The father and son hadn’t mended their fractured relationship prior to Mitt’s death by suicide, with Jay venturing into whale-infested waters because he wants to find his dad’s sunken remains. This is all the story context needed to ground the high concept, but Duffield and Kraus’ emotionally earnest approach to making an old school monster movie convinced them that audiences will be equally invested in the cliched and blandly written daddy-issues drama that they keep halting all tension to cut back to.

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Duffield’s approach results in a race-against-time framework devoid of any sense of urgency, with each tense escape sequence inside a different part of the whale’s body undercut by abrupt flashbacks above the surface. I suspect that the writers were self-conscious about the need to “elevate” their lowbrow concept by ensuring as much of the novel’s grounded domestic drama remained intact as possible, but when translated onto screen, it only drains the movie of all its suspense. 

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Not that Whalefall is much more engaging when focused on Jay’s escape plan, with the attention-to-detail of the production design and practical effects in fleshing out the whale’s insides underserved by some of the most dimly lit cinematography I’ve ever seen in a major studio release. It might also hold the title of the ugliest film I’ve seen projected in an IMAX theatre, with each elaborately designed practical set shot with so little care it’s barely perceivable. At a certain point, Whalefall becomes visually indistinguishable from what colonoscopy footage might look like if blown up to fit a big screen. 

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It’s no secret that studio movies are getting darker, with multiple reports suggesting that the reliance on digital cameras and softer set lighting (so it can be tweaked accordingly in post-production) are the two most common causes, but it’s beyond comprehension that nobody would have intervened for Whalefall, as its visual sensibility ruins the impact of the biggest, grossest set pieces. You could argue that the dim lighting is realistic to being trapped inside a whale; I’d argue that if I’m already watching a movie with that concept, I can suspend disbelief enough to accept brighter visuals that would help me parse the action.

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If this is a misplaced commitment to realism, it makes the newly introduced plot device in the third act — where Jay begins to converse with the whale as if it were his father, in scenes that are an inferior mirror of the Payakan sequences in the Avatar sequels — even more baffling in both its concept and execution. It’s possible to make a monster movie grounded in kitchen-sink family drama (a little 1975 movie called Jaws made it look easy), but Duffield’s attempts to balance the two are increasingly desperate and ridiculous. There’s no issue with a director treating silly material seriously, but it’s the overbearing solemnity that makes Whalefall a taxing experience, as the director treats the character drama with such reverence that it can’t help but look beyond parody.

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In both Weapons and the 2026 franchise film Resident Evil, Abrams has proven himself to be an engaging lead if positioned as the offbeat antithesis of the typical action hero. He’s far more equipped to subvert the genre with his superior physical comedy skills than he is living up to the expectations you’d have of a conventional genre protagonist, and Whalefall only furthers my belief that Cregger is the only director who understands how best to utilize him. Despite being put through the ringer just as much as in those movies, the blandness of characterization ensures that Abrams struggles to distinguish Jay’s personality amidst the action, even as he commits to the physicality required for the role. He’s a wooden, unconvincing lead thanks to weak material, which feels even more disappointing considering that another movie currently in theaters takes full advantage of the actor’s talents. 

Whalefall sinks before it can swim, drowning in its own tedium far ahead of its descent underwater.  

Alistair Ryder (@YesitsAlistair) is a film and TV critic based in Manchester, England. By day, he interviews the great and the good of the film world for Zavvi, and by night, he criticizes their work as a regular reviewer at outlets including The Film Stage and Looper. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film reviews at Vague Visages.

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