**
Directed by Brian Duffield.
Starring Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue.
Horror, US, 106 Minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on 16th October by 20th Century Studios.
It may feel a tad obvious to say you are surprised by a film that mostly takes place in the digestive system of a giant sperm whale, but that is precisely what happens in this adaptation of the novel by Daniel Kraus. Detailing the misadventures of a grieving diver who gets caught up in a tussle between a squid and a passing whale, anyone expecting a FANTASTIC VOYAGE style adventure of a race against time to escape from a giant mammal’s guts may find themselves surprised/disappointed with director Brian Duffield’s approach, which favours a schmaltzier than expected look at a strained father and son relationship that lies at the heart of the story instead of the survival/body horror aspects at the centre of its outlandish yet gripping premise.
After RESIDENT EVIL, Austin Abrams' autumn of discontent continues with his role of Jay, a young man returning home after his father Mit has chosen to meet his end in the ocean rather than facing the protracted pain of his terminal illness. The flashback heavy structure comes into play early on, showing the contrast between Mit’s lifelong love and respect for the sea that has honed his own macho nature against Jay’s more passive and meek character, no doubt a result of the constant pressure and needling he was subjected to from his father, played by Josh Brolin in standard go to gruff mode. Returning to the stretch of ocean where his father met his fate, Jay is literally swallowed up in a surreal nightmare finding himself trapped within the whale’s crushing confines of its digestive system with only an hour's worth of oxygen left in his diving tank. Revisiting his strained relationship, Jay realises that his father’s wisdom and hard lessons may hold the key to his salvation.
Director and writer Brian Duffield has managed to mix earnest character drama and horror genre trappings to great effect before, most notably in the effective small scale alien invasion drama NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU. This time however Duffield, co-writing here with Kraus, leans more towards the human relationship angle. This is after the impressively mounted sequences where Jay first encounters and becomes literally entangled in the deep sea skirmish that leads to his biological imprisonment. The punishing and claustrophobic nature of Jay figuring out his situation, alongside his land based family drama contrast strongly in a variety of ways. Most notably, and disappointingly in the televisual, soap drama-like nature of Jay and Mit’s antagonistic relationship which leans into increasingly mawkish territory as the film goes along.
Contrasted with the otherworldly nature of the confined setting of the stomach and gut based location of the whale, with its toxic gases and corrosive stomach acids, not to mention the flailing tentacular remains of the unfortunate squid with its razor sharp, snapping beak, these strands of gruelling terror and family drama never really gel together in a satisfying manner. When the film ventures into more metaphorical territory, which is already heavily signalled from the get go, the gripping nature that you would expect from such a premise is never really delivered. Moments of triumph, both physical and emotional, are delivered with such sentimentality and manipulation that it is hard not to feel slightly cheated on all fronts here.
The film's premise is one that promises something so compact, yet original in its offbeat setting that you are immediately set to wondering how it can spin itself out to a one hundred minute running time. While it settles into a half-hearted look at toxic masculinity and reconciliation the resulting film is something far less enthralling than you may expect, unless you are in the mood for a Hallmark level drama set within a giant, hungry sea mammal.
Iain MacLeod