Why Whalefall Gets Stuck Between Interiority and Blockbuster Filmmaking
The BFI review argues that Whalefall is caught between mediums. Interiority, it says, is something literary fiction does very well and blockbuster-sized filmmaking tends to swallow up; even Krauss co-writing the screenplay with director Brian Duffield does not dispel the feeling of a work lodged intractably between them.
The review's best news is its leading man. Austin Abrams, fresh off Resident Evil (2026), doubles down on what the review calls his emerging persona as a sentient blood bag, holding steady through bites, burns and a busted eardrum.
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The distinction is useful: interiority is not the same as spectacle, and a blockbuster adaptation has to find a visual equivalent for thought. Otherwise a film can remain faithful and still miss what makes the source tick.
Maybe the body is the solution rather than a distraction. The review calls Abrams the best thing in the film and notes he holds steady through bites, burns and a busted eardrum, which is one way to make a mind legible: give it something physical to survive.