The Whale: A Strong Performance in a Lackluster Movie

There has been considerable Oscar buzz surrounding The Whale since its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September. Brendan Fraser’s performance is the focus of this buzz, and it is understandable once one sees the film. It is not a fantastic movie by any stretch of the imagination; however it is worth a watch to see a career best performance from Fraser and the rest of the cast who put on an acting clinic over the course of two hours.

The Whale tells the story of Charlie (Brendan Fraser), an English professor who has become reclusive and reached 600 pounds as a result of depression that set in after the death of his partner. His only friend Liz (Hong Chau, Watchmen), a nurse who helps him out by doing his shopping and small household chores, gives him the news that he has about a week to live because he is in congestive heart failure. He spends his last week with his estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink, Stranger Things) and a missionary from a local church with a mysterious past named Thomas (Ty Simpkins, Jurassic World).

To get the good out of the way, all four of the major actors in the movie have great performances. Fraser’s performance is a career best and both Sadie Sink and Ty Simpkins get the opportunity to prove their skills for their future career. It is in these acting performances that the movie is most enjoyable considering the dialogue is not great. Ellie has dialogue that no teenager has ever said in the history of humanity, as if it was an adult writing for a younger character and the same goes for Thomas. Dialogue beats are repeated, but not for dramatic effect, it's closer to two scenes being shot to convey the same information with the intent one would be cut but both made the final script.

There are a few technical issues that plague this movie as well. There is a decision in the color grading that is definitely intentional and becomes very noticeable as the third act kicks into high gear and there is a scene where there is a major confrontation where a plain white light is in the background and it’s glowing with a blue aura that’s not natural. At first one would think it’s just poor color correction or poor decision-making when set dressing by not using a warmer light to offset but the resolution of the third act illustrates that the decisions were all intentional. There are also moments where scenes that should not feature rapid cuts between characters during dialogue have them. When building tension, quick cuts are helpful, however the form of tension created is more anxious and frantic and increases the tempo. For a psychological thriller (or thriller of any kind for that matter), this is helpful, however for a film like The Whale, it just confuses things where longer takes that allow the viewer to sit and ruminate on the dramatic problems are, the more helpful it is for the viewer to let them live in the emotion.

The movie is just fine, however it is elevated to a worthwhile viewing experience by strong performances by the leads. It is worth watching once, though not necessarily in a theater, especially since it is shot in 4:3 which always feels weird to watch on a movie theater screen. At the end of the day, this might be a movie to wait to hit streaming before watching.

Final Rating: 7/10