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Whalefall reviews: Austin Abrams praised, film's tone and story split critics

Reviews of Brian Duffield's survival thriller Whalefall, which opens in US theatres on 16 October, are divided. Critics broadly praise Austin Abrams but disagree on whether the film's earnest father-son drama and whale-belly setting work.

7 outlets · 3L · 4C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Variety
Image: /Film
Image: The Hollywood Reporter
Image: Collider
Image: Radio Times
Image: IndieWire
Image: Screen Rant

1 / 7

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Whalefall, a survival thriller directed by Brian Duffield and adapted from Daniel Kraus' 2023 novel, opens in US theatres on Friday 16 October 2026 from 20th Century Studios. Left · 2Austin Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, a young scuba diver who goes into the sea off Monastery Beach near Monterey, California, to look for the remains of his late father Mitt (Josh Brolin), and is swallowed by a sperm whale after getting tangled with a giant squid. Mixed · 2Most of the film is spent inside the whale as Jay tries to survive with limited oxygen, interspersed with flashbacks to his difficult relationship with his father, a local diving legend who, according to several reviews, died by suicide after a cancer diagnosis.

Centre · 3The six reviews read are all from North American entertainment outlets and are split: /Film and Collider are strongly positive, IndieWire is mixed-to-positive, Screen Rant is mixed-to-negative, and The Hollywood Reporter and Variety are negative. Left · 3Abrams' physical performance, delivered largely alone and with his mouth covered by a breathing apparatus, draws praise from five of the six reviewers, including those who dislike the film overall; Variety is the exception, calling him "too wimpy by half". Centre · 3The film's sincerity and father-son drama are the main point of division: /Film and Collider call the earnestness a strength, while The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, Variety and Screen Rant find the flashbacks and Brolin's character overwrought, unconvincing or nonsensical.

Centre · 3Critics also differ on whether it works as an adaptation: /Film calls it "a miraculous adaptation" and Collider says it "gets all the story and character beats right", while Variety says "something got lost in the translation" and IndieWire calls it sincere but weighed down by emotional baggage. Left · 3IndieWire, The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Rant say the action inside the whale is hard to follow because the layout of its interior is unclear, while /Film praises the sets, cinematography and sound as technical wizardry. Centre · 3Sound design and Joseph Trapanese's score get credit across the spectrum: Collider calls the sound design "immaculate", /Film says no other film this year will be as reliant on it, and The Hollywood Reporter says the soundscape and score do much of the work of keeping the pulse racing.

Left · 3Variety's Owen Gleiberman finds the film "unintentionally preposterous" and "Scary? Not even a little", and The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney calls it a "dumb thriller that takes itself way too seriously", whereas Screen Rant says the concept is compelling but is let down by thin storytelling and wastes the deep ocean as a setting.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left3 outlets

Framing
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire review the film with irreverent, joke-heavy prose, treating the premise as comic and judging the emotional drama to be at odds with it. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are dismissive; IndieWire is more admiring of the effects and sincerity.
Emphasis
Unintentional comedy, the father-son 'daddy issues', murky whale geography, and the effects; Abrams is praised by two of the three.
Leaves out or plays down
Give little space to the sound design and score as a strength (only The Hollywood Reporter mentions them), and none mention the novel's scientific plausibility.
Charged language
“Dumb Thriller”“Unintentionally Preposterous”“Nat Geo torture porn”“Daddy Issues”
For example
“The movie comes closer to doing for whales what “Howard the Duck” did for barnyard superheroes” — Variety
“Whalefall is basically Nat Geo torture porn.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“this spectacularly unpleasant underwater adventure delivers on its premise with effects that are graphic, fascinating, and occasionally beautiful.” — IndieWire

Centre4 outlets

Framing
/Film and Collider treat the film as a rare, confident and moving mainstream thriller, celebrating its earnestness, sound design and Abrams; Screen Rant is the exception, finding a compelling concept undermined by shallow storytelling.
Emphasis
Fidelity to the novel and its scientific accuracy, sound design and score, Abrams' commitment, and sincerity; Screen Rant stresses plot holes and the wasted ocean setting.
Leaves out or plays down
/Film and Collider downplay confusion over the whale's interior and the on-the-nose dialogue (/Film concedes the latter), and Screen Rant gives little attention to the sound or technical craft.
Charged language
“miraculous adaptation”“pulse-pounding”“masterful”“flimsy narrative”
For example
“Whalefall is gripping, moving, and earnest to a fault, aiming high to pull off a miraculous adaptation.” — /Film
“Brian Duffield's stellar new Whalefall uses sound design and earnest emotion” — Collider
“Austin Abrams acts his heart out, but even that isn't enough to make Whalefall's flimsy narrative and many nonsensical plot points work.” — Screen Rant

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

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