By Dan Skip Allen

AGBO is the production company owned by Joe and Anthony Russo. The two men behind “Captain America: Civil  War”, Avengers: Infinity War” and Avengers: Endgame”. The hitch is they didn’t produce these movies they only directed. The films they produced didn’t fare, as well as the movies in the MCU did at the box office or with critics. “The Whisper Man” is a film they produced but didn’t direct. It’s based on the worldwide, best-selling novel from Alex North. Screenwriters Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer wrote the script, and it premieres on Netflix on August 28th. Will it fare as well as their last two outings, “The Grey Man” and “The Electric State”? That’s the big question.

Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) is an author who writes novels. He and his son moved back to Featherbank, New Jersey, where he grew up. He wanted to give his son a new place to call home to get him to stop thinking about his deceased mother. All the while, not realizing there is a child kidnapper on the loose in his area. Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) is investigating the kidnappings, and ironically, she tries to enlist the help of Detective Inspector Pete Willis (Robert DeNiro), the father of Scott’s character. He doesn’t know this until his own son goes missing, and he tries to enlist his father’s help as well. It’s the beginning of a very complicated situation.

Jake Kennedy (Acston Luca Porto) is a kid who is being bullied at his new school and talks to strangers at night. His father gets mad at him and says it’s all in his mind, and he’s manifesting things because of the loss of his mother. After they had a disagreement one night, Jake just walked out the front door of his home.His father gets the detective in charge of the case to start helping him find out what happened to his son. He reluctantly tries to help his estranged son because he gilts him into it. Using his experience, he calls the detective in charge and starts looking at the evidence that she has gotten thus far. It’s a hard case to delve into, as this case reminds him of an older case he was involved in years prior, involving a kidnapper named Frank Carter (Michael Keaton).

This film has an in-depth story that has many layers to it. All three leads in the movie are doing their own private investigation. Trying to find leads that will help them figure out what’s going on. Their investigations lead in various directions. It takes almost getting killed by a couple of drug addicts at a project for the Scott character to get on the same page as DeNiro and Monaghan’s characters. James Ashcroft, the director, sets the story in a dank, rainy, cold environment to elicit a moody and atmospheric tone. The darker gloomy cinematography & melancholic score give off a spooky nature. He definitely gets the feeling he’s going for with everything that is shown at the beginning of the film. The second half is typical crime thriller stuff.

The cast of who I mentioned the most of are all doing good work here. They aren’t overacting or anything like that. They are very level-headed in their performances. Considering a man’s son has gone missing, I thought he’d, Scott ‘s character, would be a little bit more over-reactive in his performance. DeNiro and Monaghan give much more level-headed performances. Keaton, on the other hand, gives off creepy vibes from the very first time he appears on screen. He’s a convicted criminal, after all. He plays that kind of person up perfectly. The police and criminals act as well as you could possibly hope for with the types of personalities these actors play.

Regarding the novel aspects of this film, I think they do a good job with clues, characters, evidence, and dialogue. Even a back story involving the past relationship between Scott and DeNiro’s characters adds much needed depth to the story. The two actors play off this relationship very nicely. The book offers a lot of things that help the story unfold in layers like an onion. A good crime thriller does this. Viewers have to pay attention to every little detail that is shown in the camera on screen. Notes and nick knacks alike all prove to be clues in figuring out what’s going on. The screenplay is loaded with nuance in this regard.

The title of the movie is an intriguing one. This title refers to a spooky character or a man who whispers to his victims. Some say it’s the wind outside their homes at night, and others say its spirits in the night looking for their victim to haunt. Either way “The Whisper Man” will get you as the story goes. I like a good title to a film because it can mean a lot or a little, but it means something in the end. The one here has a reference to a previous kidnapper and a spooky house, but they fit the overall context of the story.The script is well adapted to give this title. It’s just due. That’s a good thing in the crux of events depicted here.

I’ve seen a lot of movies like this one, but not many of them have a story that is so fleshed out on screen. Using the main cast and supporting cast alike, Ashcroft gets everything he can out of his actors and the script. Throw in a dark cinematography and a melancholic score, and you have a very dark and moody movie that does what it’s supposed to do to elicit scared and weird feelings. It’s rare that a novel can get viewers to be as emotional as this one does. The Russo’s have assembled a great team to bring this novel by Alex North to life so realistically. A crime thriller of this nature is a rarity these days, considering how many books get made into films and television/streaming series. This one couldn’t have been adapted in any better of a way as far as I’m concerned. “The Whisper Man” gets all the pieces right, and that makes this a fantastic crime thriller. Hopefully, Netflix will have a winner on their hands. Joe and Anthony Russo are back on a winning streak regarding their producing credits.

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 ½ stars