"The Whisper Man" is an empty and banal thriller From Alex North's novel, a serial killer movie that wastes the pairing of Robert De Niro and Michael Keaton

A new thriller has arrived on Netflix: The Whisper Man by James Ashcroft. It's a genre that is a classic for the platform, whose titles often rack up a considerable number of views but don't always win critical approval. These are works destined to be forgotten, yet ones that manage to stir some kind of emotion during viewing. Often a negative one, admittedly, but at least there's something more than nothing — and nothing is the worst thing a film could ever make you feel. Unfortunately, Ashcroft's work falls squarely into this category.

Two whisper men and a missing child

The story of The Whisper Man, based on Alex North's novel, could have been intriguing, if morbid. A serial killer — the very one named in the title — kidnaps and murders young boys using the modus operandi of an old "colleague" who has been behind bars for years. A copycat, an accomplice, or simply a clumsy follower?

Whatever his motivations, the monster convinces his victims to leave their homes and follow him. That is what young Jake (Acston Luca Porto) does as well — the son of Adam Scott's character, who is increasingly drawn to more "serious" projects and is playing a writer for the second time, following the horror film Hokum. Following his disappearance, the father has no choice but to call his own parent — a retired detective played by none other than Robert De Niro — with whom he has been out of contact for years and who once caught the original Whisper Man.

A star-studded cast isn't enough

The big names don't stop there. Michelle Monaghan plays the detective working to track down the serial killer, while the original criminal is portrayed by Michael Keaton. Not that their presence — nor that of Scott and De Niro — is of any particular significance to the film's outcome. These are actors who know that it occasionally makes sense to take on certain productions to cash in and buy themselves another couple of years of peace of mind. It's the trade-off you accept in order to take on less lucrative but more artistically rewarding work.

With The Whisper Man, for that matter, the choice wasn't even such a poor one. And yet there are titles that won't ruin you but remain as dark, superfluous stains on your career — as is the case here. This Netflix thriller is marked by inconsistency and a careless predictability, and it doesn't even try when the viewer already knows exactly what's about to happen. It seems to cautiously accept that the narrative will plod along, hoping no one complains.

This affects both the story and the characters, who are drawn without any particular depth. It doesn't matter that there's a killer with a disturbed nature committing reprehensible acts against children, whose psychology one would like to understand better — because in the screenplay written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer, it is reduced to rhetorical, poorly delivered speeches.

A thriller that leaves no mark

Even the central theme of fatherhood, reiterated both in the relationship between Adam Scott and Robert De Niro's characters and in the killer's own practices, feels more like an intangible echo than a subject worth reflecting on — accompanied by a string of platitudes that are entirely unnecessary to dwell upon.

And then there is the portrayal of the killer played by Keaton. The inspiration drawn from Anthony Hopkins's Hannibal Lecter is there, albeit faint. What betrays it is not the former Batman's performance, but the writing of his character. The mystery built around his figure dissolves the moment he appears on screen — especially when he begins trading witty barbs with his double/nemesis De Niro, which turns out to be just as hollow as everything else. The result is just another title in the platform's catalogue, where the word thriller rhymes with mediocrity.