When his son is abducted, widower Tom (Adam Scott) enlists his estranged ex-cop dad Pete (Robert De Niro) to help, along with Detective Amanda (Michelle Monaghan). Could the long-solved ‘Whisper Man’ murders be making a comeback?
Many of the films produced under the Russo brothers’ AGBO banner feel – in a good way – like ‘90s throwbacks. 21 Bridges was a solid cop thriller elevated by the late, great Chadwick Boseman. Extraction was a solid hardman action movie elevated by the muscular Chris Hemsworth. The Whisper Man might not boast an MCU leading man, but it is – you guessed it – a solid serial killer thriller elevated by its star-studded cast.
The plot is nothing you haven’t seen before: a long-solved serial killer case of the ‘Whisper Man’ – who abducts emotionally-vulnerable young boys, with a nursery rhyme-esque ‘tapping at the glass’ mythology surrounding him – rears its head again many years later, when a new crop of kids start to go missing. The spree’s re-emergence coincides with emotionally shut-down widower Tom Kennedy (Scott) returning to his hometown, paying no attention to his son Jake’s (Acston Luca Porto) queries about seeing and hearing strange things in their new house. Before you know it, little Jake has been spirited away, sparking a quest to find him before he’s left for dead by… well, is it even the Whisper Man, since he’s firmly behind bars?
An extended scene between Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro is the highlight here
What heightens director James Ashcroft’s adaptation of Alex North’s novel is the eye-poppingly stacked cast. Jake’s disappearance causes Tom to reconnect with his distant detective dad Pete, a substantial role with which Robert De Niro imbues a baseline level of gravitas. The material hardly stretches him, but De Niro is – of course – extremely watchable in this kind of serious thriller fare. He is also believably cold in his relationship with Scott, their distance echoed in the survival-mode emotional wall Tom also displays to young Jake; running throughout The Whisper Man is a succession of broken father-son relationships, with ruinous results for all involved. Michelle Monaghan is handed a cookie-cutter role as the current cop on Jake’s case, but brings another dependable presence.
The juicier roles lie on The Whisper Man’s more sinister side. Hamish Linklater, still in his post-Midnight Mass career boom, brings an eerie calm to murder-enthusiast Norman, his true crime obsession making him a prime suspect in the Whisper Man 2.0 killings. And Michael Keaton makes the most of limited screentime as the original Whisper Man, long locked away for his sick deeds, ready to play Hannibal Lecter-esque mind games with the police when they seek his advice on who might be picking up where he left off. An extended scene between Keaton and De Niro is the highlight here; two titans simply going head-to-head across a table.
There are no surprises to be found in The Whisper Man; it isn’t destined to go down as a new classic of the genre. But with a cast this great, well-crafted tension, and just enough character meat on the bones, it’s a film that deserves neither whispers, nor shouts, but a regular-volume recommendation. May AGBO’s ‘90s throwback project long continue.
A Netflix serial killer thriller that’s – whisper it! – actually pretty good, with a heavyweight cast that brings greater heft to solid if forgettable material.