Whisper (2007)

FEBRUARY 11, 2008

GENRE: KILLER KID, SUPERNATURAL
SOURCE: DVD (ONLINE RENTAL)

I really hope that someday ABC buys the rights to Whisper and they just use some footage for it as a Sawyer flashback on Lost (in the movie, there's a back-story about his girlfriend cheating on him, maybe they can use it on Lost to explain why he refuses to get close to Kate). It will make Josh Holloway look better. Because honestly, he may call himself “Max” in the film, but he’s fucking Sawyer through and through. Same hairstyle, same mannerisms, and yes, same character (a two bit crook with shades of nobility). So either the guy is afraid to play outside of his comfort zone, or he simply just can’t act.

Luckily the movie isn’t too bad. Michael Rooker isn’t around as long as I’d like (and since when does a heart attack give you severe facial burn scars?), but any movie with a killer kid is always OK by me. And this kid’s a vicious fucking bastard, not only messing with his kidnappers, but also random folks who happen by. He also controls dogs, a la Damien, but he’s not the Antichrist. Instead, he claims to be a standard fallen angel, which is an interesting idea.

And even though the movie was shot entirely in Canada, I give the production team an A+ for really putting in the effort to sell it as Massachusetts and Maine. While I wasn’t entirely fooled (the roads are a dead giveaway – no highway in Massachusetts has more than ¼ mile without a sign for a Dunkins!), they have the right newspapers, police cars, license plates, even a nice local microbrewery (Wachusett Ale) that any native New Englander such as myself will appreciate. And since they don’t have anyone do the accent, it actually makes it even more believable, since it’s always exaggerated beyond any reasonable belief.

Sadly, Universal did not put as much effort into mastering the film. Even though it was at one point intended for theatrical release (they shot it in 2005), the film looks pretty washed out and thus TV movie-ish. The compression is also horrid – just take a close look at the Universal logo at the beginning and notice all of the blocking/smearing going on in the globe. It’s even more of a bummer when you know that the film was shot by none other than Dean Cundey, who shot a few movies you might enjoy such as Halloween, The Thing, and Jurassic Park. You can tell this would have been a nice looking film had they bothered to take the time to give it a decent transfer. Oh well.

Another bummer is some less than satisfying editing. Jumps in conversation are noticeable in more than a couple scenes (people will respond to questions in a very awkward manner, since they were actually responding to something else entirely). There’s mention of a scar on Sarah Wayne Callies’ eye that’s never elaborated on as well. Speaking of the dear departed Nurse Sara, I must take issue with a film that features no less than 3 scenes in which Callies has the perfect opportunity to flash at least some side boob and gives us nothing. She screwed us over by quitting Prison Break over salary bullshit, and she’s screwing us over here! It’s not fair, dammit!!!

Anyway, as far as direct to video movies about demonic children starring Lost characters go, it’s one of the better ones. I guess it’s airing on TNT already, if you catch it there, you should be satisfied (it’s rated R but only for language, the on-screen violence is pretty tame, so a TV edit will suffice and possibly even look better if it’s TNT HD).

What say you?