The Whisper Man, 2026.
Directed by James Ashcroft.
Starring Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton, Michelle Monaghan, Hamish Linklater, Owen Teague, Acston Luca Porto, Will Brill, Myrna Cabello, Aniela Zeig, Rigel Harris, Exavier Montanez, Jaxon Colon, Randy Danson, Robert Clohessy, Kimberlee Monroe, and Alyse Alan Louis.
SYNOPSIS:
A grieving father and his young son relocate to the quiet town of Featherbank, which was terrorized by a serial killer known as The Whisper Man 15 years earlier, while rumors circulate that Whisper Man worked with an accomplice.
In theory, it should be impossible to craft something bland and forgettable with an ensemble that includes Robert De Niro and Michael Keaton, not to mention more modern stars such as Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan. It shouldn’t matter what the genre is, and yet, James Ashcroft’s serial killer thriller The Whisper Man trudges along for two hours with the excitement of, well, a whisper.
From a screenplay by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer (adapting the novel by Alex North), the story concerns Adam Scott’s crime novelist Tom Kennedy (not to get to nitpicky, but why the hell is the character almost named after SpongeBob SquarePants voiceover performer Tom Kenny?) and his young boy Jake (Acston Luca Porto) moving back to the fictional small New Jersey town Featherbank following the recent tragic loss of mom. Ever since his mom got sick and passed, Jake has apparently struggled socially, with those troubles continuing through this move. Conveniently, this is also where a serial abductor and killer of lonely children once preyed before Robert De Niro’s police detective Peter Willis cracked the case and put the culprit, Frank Carter (Michael Keaton essentially in the Kevin Spacey Se7en role), behind bars. 15 years later, the abductions and subsequent audio tapes have restarted, with Jake inevitably becoming a target by the end of act one.
This is also where the first major twist comes in, which already feels sweaty. Essentially, it reveals a connection between Tom and Peter as they set aside their personal history to work alongside Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) to reopen the original case, search for new victims, and investigate like clockwork to identify the copycat. Naturally, this brings everyone to an interrogation with Frank, perpetually behind bars, where the thematic gist of the movie is spelled out in that it is about abused children and mythologized fathers, sometimes creating a cyclical, generational sickness. To the degree that the movie is about that also strains credulity for a narrative so serious-minded, convinced it contains psychological profundity.
The search also brings our protagonists into the world of a true-crime obsessive (Hamish Linklater) weirdly collecting artifacts and evidence for no other reason than a sick hobby, a school worker (Owen Teague) understandably concerned that history is repeating itself, and not much else in the way of suspects, aside from the plausibility that one of our heroes could also be secretly deranged. A small amount of possibilities here sucks the wind out of a narrative that already fails to capitalize on the urgency of the situation. There are other boys besides Jake abducted, with a strong possibility that pedophilia is involved in the modus operandi, not to mention that once the tapes are delivered and made public to law enforcement, that child only has a short time left before being murdered. Yes, these people are working around the clock to solve the case, but you wouldn’t know it from the way the proceedings are so stale and lethargic.
Again, part of this is chalked up to The Whisper Man being primarily concerned with family dynamics, whether it be trauma, guilt, rejection, approval, or estrangement. Even the original titular killer is creepily fascinated by Tom’s novels, which serve as a vessel for seeking acceptance from a father who struggled to show love and destroyed their family. Likewise, Tom feels responsible for pushing Jake into becoming a copycat, unable to handle his behavior in the wake of their loss, which boils down to an overactive imagination and talking to invisible friends.
Bluntly put, The Whisper Man never coalesces into anything compelling beyond a throwaway line from Michael Keaton (admittedly unsettling in the role, notably toward the finale), culminating in an array of unsatisfying reveals and chase sequences that themselves conclude on a deflating note (for all the destruction this copycat leaves in his path, it’s unintentionally hilarious how they meet their anticlimactic demise). Even with a stacked ensemble of decent performances, it isn’t worth whispering about, let alone shouting at someone to watch.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
