A round exactly halfway into The Whisper Man, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alex North, a pointedly phrased clue is delivered through a matter-of-fact piece of dialogue that gives away the rest of the movie.

It matters little whether you have a good ear for dialogue or not, or how well you understand thrillers, there is no way to unhear the revelation.

To be fair, the film, about a retired detective searching for a copycat killer, had long lost its intrigue before this spoiler.

Produced by Anthony and Joe Russo (directors of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Avengers: Doomsday), written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer, and directed by James Ashcroft, The Whisper Man is designed to pass off as a slow-burn thriller. It is anything but one.

The Whisper Man has all the ingredients of a gripping thriller — a serial killer, a copycat and a dark family mystery — but somehow turns them into a remarkably dull film

Robert De Niro plays Peter Willis, a retired cop who had caught the original Whisper Man — Frank Carter (Michael Keaton) — who used to kidnap children and then record and send messages on audio cassettes to torment their grieving families. After more than 20 years, detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) finds dead bodies of recently kidnapped children that mimic the Whisper Man’s gruesome style.

Soon, the copycat kidnaps Jake (Acston Luca Porto), the son of Willis’ estranged son, Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott), forcing Willis to return to the fray.

Believe me, the story summarised above sounds better than the film. For a good portion of the runtime, the stories hardly intersect. One wishes they would, and soon, because they take their time getting nowhere before finally snapping together, without really coming together.

The plodding drama mainly focuses on Kennedy’s character in scenes that could have been nicely done if re-tinkered and condensed. De Niro and Monaghan’s characters have sparse screen time together, with little to nothing going for them.

Given how the screenplay and direction go — both appallingly mediocre at times — one doesn’t expect good, engaging performances from anyone. Scott acts too much at times, emphasising his performance with his hands and body more than necessary, De Niro sleepwalks through the role and Monaghan is just there, bringing little to the character or the story.

Late in the story, Hamish Linklater enters the film as Norman Collins, an enthusiast collector of serial-killer memorabilia. Performance-wise, he is another dead-end. However, Keaton is good… in whatever capacity the word “good” creeps into the film. The crime is not how menacing or demented the killer is, but how dull the film is.

On the surface, The Whisper Man openly emulates the Nordic thrillers that trend on Netflix. The lighting design is dim, the sets unimaginative and sparse, the characters unstimulating and uninvolving. Like the killer, everyone talks in near-whispers and offers scant insight into their personalities or the plot.

The entire mechanism, directorially and production-wise, needs tightening. Still, astoundingly, the film is trending in Netflix’s Top 10. Now that is a real crime.

Streaming on Netflix, The Whisper Man is rated suitable for ages 18 and over… not many of whom may enjoy the dullness the film promises

The writer is Icon’s primary film reviewer

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 13th, 2026