REVIEW: “The Whisper Man”
Courtesy of Netflix
A title like The Whisper Man makes you want to leave the lights on. It hints at that creepy, hair-raising sensation of hearing a voice right behind you, resulting in the kind of nightmare that frays nerves. With an impressive cast that includes Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Keaton, you might think this latest Netflix release is a new terrifying classic. But this slow-burning thriller spends more time promising chills and thrills than actually delivering them.
Based on Alex North’s bestselling novel of the same name, the story follows Tom Kennedy (Scott), a widowed author doing his best to raise his young son, Jake (Acston Luca Porto), on his own. When Jake is suddenly kidnapped, Tom turns to his estranged father, Peter Willis (De Niro), a retired detective who once caught a notorious serial killer known as “The Whisper Man” years ago. Now a copycat is using the killer’s same playbook. To save Jake, the older father and son have to dig back into a nightmare case everyone thought was closed for good.
And make no mistake, that nightmare is pretty dark. The killer lures kids away from their homes, holds them captive, torments them by whispering terrible secrets regarding their parents before leaving their bodies to be discovered in the woods. It’s a deeply disturbing idea that should keep the audience on edge. But director James Ashcroft somehow strips all of the suspense out of the movie. The movie knows these crimes are horrific, but it can’t translate that horror into anything remotely nail-biting.
The stacked cast is the main attraction here, which makes it even more disappointing that everyone seems to be largely going through the motions. Although Scott conveys his grief and fatigue well, he stays in the same emotional gear even as the stakes increase dramatically. You feel his sadness, but never get a real sense of his desperation. For a father living out every parent’s worst nightmare, that missing energy leaves a relatively big hole in the movie.
De Niro fares a bit better and seems a bit more engaged here than in some of his recent roles. His best scenes are opposite Keaton, who turns in a brief but chilling performance. Keaton brings a sleazy, unnerving confidence that gives the movie a much-needed jolt and pushes De Niro to match his energy. Meanwhile, Monaghan is fine in a thankless detective role that mostly has her explaining the plot, which doesn’t make the most of her talent.
Because the thriller element doesn’t fully work, viewers might hope the emotional family drama will save things, but that falls short, too. The tense relationship between Tom and Peter is full of old wounds, but the script treats their eventual reconciliation as just another plot point instead of something meaningful. It reaches for a heavy emotional payoff without ever laying the groundwork to make the audience care.
The mystery doesn’t help much either; the plot relies on highly convenient coincidences, the twists are easy to see coming, and the big reveals don’t quite land. Worse, the movie unmasks the main villain way too early. Sometimes an early reveal can add suspense if done right, but here it kills any reason to stay engaged and leaves viewers waiting for the characters on screen to catch up to what they already know.
There’s also a semi-supernatural subplot that never quite fits. It floats around the edges of the story, raising questions without adding any spooky atmosphere. It’s clear the filmmakers couldn’t decide whether to commit to the paranormal angle or stick to realism, so the whole thing feels like an afterthought. The film clearly wants to recreate the dark feel of ‘90s crime thrillers, but it lacks the sharp edge that made those movies work.
After two hours of dark secrets and slow detective work, it wraps up with an anticlimactic payoff that feels oddly indifferent to the nightmare it spent the whole time trying to build. For a story about missing kids, buried secrets, and a terrifying voice in the dark, The Whisper Man leaves its biggest mystery unsolved: where did all the thrills and chills go?
The Whisper Man is currently available to stream on Netflix.