Review: ‘Whalefall’

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The ocean is absolutely terrifying. There is so much we still don’t know about and there is no empathy or understanding of human life. Once you are in it, you are entering into a domain that is completely run by sea life. It’s dangerous and if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be fatal. There are anywhere between 80 to 150 fatalities a year. If something goes wrong down there, you don’t just get to call for help. You are completely isolated. Listen, I understand the whole thrill-seeking thing and wanting to feel that rush in life, but don’t go into the ocean. There are some who love that lifestyle and I completely respect it.

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When Mitt Gardner (Josh Brolin) becomes terminally ill, he decides to end things on his terms. Mitt’s surviving family is left grieving without a body to bury. Jay (Austin Abrams) makes the decision to go on a dive and try to recover his fathers remains. As you can imagine, things start off shaky due to weather conditions. The beach is shut down so Jay has to sneak into the one parking area the police aren’t covering. As he is descending into the dark depths of the ocean (seriously brother no flashlight? What was the plan here?) he sees a squid being chased by a whale. Instead of staying on the edge where he most likely would’ve been safe, Jay makes his move along the ocean floor on his belly like a little sea serpent. Ok I made that part up but he does stay low to ocean floor and eventually gets swallowed up by the whale.

Into the Belly of the Beast

Once inside things get really bad, really quick. Jay has to fight off other creatures (seriously what was up with that squid? It felt personal like Jay owed him money or called is his wife an octopus) as well as trying to maintain enough oxygen to form an escape plan. There is a lot to like here for me personally. However, as someone who is both Claustrophobic and terrified of the deep ocean, I found myself clenching a lot. The film does a good job in my opinion jumping back and forth between past and present. The relationship between Jay and his father was very rocky due to Mitt trying to teach his son about survival and how to survive not only the ocean, but whatever life throws at you. Jay still loved his dad, he just wanted a normal father and son relationship. Boy, I bet now that he is in the belly of this majestic creature he was really appreciating his fathers tough love (and what felt like borderline psychological child abuse at times). Jay is able to use all of these tools, both physically and metaphorically, to survive this encounter.

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Final Thoughts

This was an enjoyable movie to me despite the fact that it felt like more than once I was going to go into cardiac arrest. It was emotional, intense, and a little funny at times (let’s be honest we can all relate with Jay talking to himself through a horrific situation). I think this film is for sure worth a one time watch and Austin Abrams is again brilliant in a movie where he has to carry most of it by himself. It made me want to read the book which is also titled Whalefall by Daniel Kraus.