Tag Archives: zach-cregger

Whalefall

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The new thriller with a credibility-stretching premise came out this weekend. Whalefall sees our main character getting swallowed by a sperm whale.

According to IMDB, “Follows a scuba diver who, while looking for his father’s remains, is swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has just one hour to get out before his oxygen runs out.”

Austin Abrams starred as Jay Gardiner, the kid who winds up inside the whale. Josh Brolin played his father, Mitt Gardiner. I think that Austin Abrams does a great job, and he is having a big year after starring in the new Resident Evil film. I think he is a star in the making.

Now, the whale in the room is this… you absolutely need to suspend your disbelief in order to accept this premise. The idea that someone could be swallowed by a whale and attempt to survive is just ridiculous and implausible. If you can get past that, the scenes where Abrams is swallowed by the whale (thanks a lot squid) and trying to survive inside the whale are compelling, stressful and engaging as hell. I was fully tense the entire time Jay was inside the whale.

The film used flashbacks to give more details to the relationship between Jay and Mitt. Most of these flashbacks were okay, even if the ones that they showed were kind of heavy-handed. All of the flashbacks played a role in the situation Jay was in. The flashbacks were nowhere near as captivating as the scenes inside the whale. Josh Brolin was fine, if not good, as Mitt, but the character itself was fairly stereotypical.

The first two acts of Whalefall were tremendous and created such a suspenseful tone that it was feeling as if it was going to be one of the best movies of the year. Sadly, the third act was nowhere near as strong and, while still not keeping me from enjoying the film overall, it did bring my opinion of the film down. No spoilers of course, but I just did not think the ending reached the high levels of the first two acts.

The effects inside the whale were absolutely spectacular. They created such a feeling of claustrophobia and tension that the scenes were hard to watch at times. I was always waiting for the next thing to drop to cause trouble for Jay. The sound mix was perhaps Oscar level as the sounds inside the whale and the lead up to Jay being inside was just amazing.

One area that was a problem was the fact that Jay had to keep a mouthpiece in his mouth the whole time he was in the whale because of the toxic air in the whale’s stomach, and that led to Austin Abrams having to mumble a lot of the lines he had. It was difficult to understand what he was saying through much of the movie. So much so that perhaps they should have given an ADR for Abrams so he could be heard. It may have been used to give some realism to a series of scenes that had little to no realism about them. Maybe they could have placed words on the screen so the audience could know what Jay was saying.

I enjoyed this movie for most of the runtime, though it did slip from my initial thoughts of it challenging for the top 10 of the year to a point where it is a movie that I would recommend and liked, but not loved.

3.8 stars

Resident Evil (2002)

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October 2

#1 of 13

The first film of The October 13 this year is the first film of a franchise based on a video game from 2002. The video game? Resident Evil.

I had kind of wanted to watch this before I went to the rebooted Resident Evil from Zach Cregger, but it was out in September and I did not want to wait. I really enjoyed that movie starring Austin Abrams. Unfortunately, the original film, starring Milla Jovovich and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, was nowhere a good as the 2026 film.

This was tremendously bad. The acting was just atrocious. Milla Jovovich, who starred in one of my favorite movies The Fifth Element as Leelo, was just going through the motions, and sadly, she was the best actor of the crew.

There was LOST’s own Michelle Rodriguez, but she was just not bringing the goods. The rest of the cast was as wooden as one could be.

There were some moments that made me laugh loudly, even though they were not intended to. One example was when Milla made an acrobatic kick after bouncing off the wall, into the face of a monster dog. It was so ridiculous that it was embarrassing even for a video game.

The film did not look good. It was 2002, but it still lacked what I would have hoped for from the day. It was predictable and, while at the time it might have been more than just another zombie flick, since I am watching this is 2026, this is just another zombie flick.

Milla Jovovich is gorgeous and definitely stands out among the images of the violence and the gore, but there just is nothing else here. I am so happy the new film took a different direction, because it was heads and shoulders above this mess.

The October 13 is not starting off strong.

Resident Evil (2026)

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The Resident Evil franchise is one that I have only ever saw one film prior to this new version from director Zach Cregger. I saw the Resident Evil: The Final Chapter which I soundly hated. I do have the first film of the franchise schedule to be among the October the 13th-watch films this year. However, I went into this new Resident Evil film with a very hopeful attitude. I have found Zach Cregger’s recent films, Weapons and Barbarian to have been exceptional horror/thriller films and I had heard a lot of positive word of mouth. Still, I was not totally convinced of the quality this film would be.

After seeing the film, I am ready to declare that 2026 is truly the year of the horror film. Not only did we get Obsession, Backrooms, Buddy, Exit 8, Send Help, The End of Oak Street, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Deep Water, Hokum, Leviticus, and still have sever such as Clayface, The Other Mommy, Werwulf, and Godzilla Minus Zero still to come, but the new Resident Evil film was a fabulous film.

Bryan (Austin Abrams) was a hapless courier who was enlisted to take a medical package to the hospital in Raccoon City. As he made his way through the snowy conditions, Bryan encountered some monstrous creatures trying to kill him.

The number one thing that made this movie so awesome was the performance of Austin Abrams as our protagonist. Abrams had appeared in the HBO show Euphoria as well as Weapons and Wolfs before this role, and he showed that he was a charming, wonderful lead for the film. He delivered every line with such a flair that you could not help but cheer for the guy.

Again, with much thanks to Abrams, this film was just unexpectedly funny. I did not expect to laugh as much as I did in Resident Evil, and laughing when the film wanted me to laugh. I credit Austin Abrams’ work in the film for a large part of why it was so funny.

There were moments of the movie that were extremely tense too. The jump scares were kept to a minimum and were remarkably successful when they did show up. The tension was created from the situation and by placing Bryan into circumstances that the audience responded to effectively.

Without spoiling, the ending of Resident Evil (2026) did leave me a little dissatisfied overall, but it was not a deal breaker as some films have been. This third act resolution is not unwatchable by any means. I just wanted a different result.

I never played the video game that this franchise was based upon, so I do not know how the hardcore Resident Evil fans would take it, but I know I was never confused by what was on the screen. Could there be some Easter eggs that I did not realize? Sure, possibly, but I absolutely feel as if previous viewing was unnecessary to enjoy this movie.

This was a scary, funny, hoot of a good time movie with a lead actor who I think is going to be a superstar soon.

4.4 stars