Netflix’s latest The Whisper Man is a familiar thriller with just enough to keep you watching

📺 Netflix just came out with another one of its washed-out thrillers, and this time, we were decently surprised. Led by an eye-catching cast of Robert De Niro, Adam Scott, and Michelle Monaghan, the latest movie, The Whisper Man — based on Alex North’s eponymous novel — is a serial-killer thriller that mixes crime, horror, and psychology into a classic tale of child abduction, homicides, and a decades-old mystery.

The plot: Scott plays Tom Kennedy, a crime-fiction writer, single father of eight-year-old Jake, and a recent widower who just moved back to his hometown. Jake is a somewhat emotionally troubled child, dealing with the loss of his mother, and coping through imaginary friends. In the background, just as the two move into their new home, a series of children are reported missing, with some later found dead. Working on the case is detective Amanda Beck (Monaghan), whose investigation leads her to draw connections to the long-solved case of the serial killer known as The Whisper Man — a case cracked by retired detective Pete Willis (De Niro), who also happens to be Tom’s estranged father.

What we liked: The Whisper Man isn’t a particularly standout crime thriller by any means, but it is a slightly better version of the worn-out thriller formula Netflix has become known for. The acting performances deliver throughout the two-hour movie, as you’d expect from a cast of this caliber. Michael Keaton, in particular, stands out in his portrayal of criminal Frank Carter. What we also enjoyed was the father-son motif, which gave some depth to an otherwise familiar storyline, and the exploration of troubled paternal relationships through Tom and Pete, as well as the criminal’s backstory — which we won’t get into any further to avoid spoilers.

What we didn’t: We can’t help but acknowledge that the film ultimately falls back on a tired crime-thriller formula that has been explored — and executed — much better before. The characters, too, lean heavily into cliched depictions and aren’t given enough room to develop in convincing ways. Ultimately, relationships are mended too quickly, characters are forgiven too easily, and the story wraps up too predictably and hastily.

The verdict: Though we enjoyed watching the mystery play out and were suitably thrilled along the way, The Whisper Man ultimately proves forgettable. It gives you just enough plot, character, dialogue — albeit often clichéd — and action to keep you hooked for its two-hour runtime, but nothing more than that. It’s the type of Netflix movie you put on knowing you’ll enjoy it in the moment, only to forget most of it soon after.

WHERE TO WATCH- The Whisper Man is streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer on YouTube (watch, runtime: 2:42).