Whalefall

Jay Gardiner dives off California's central Coast to search for his late father's remains and is swallowed by a sperm whale. He has one hour of oxygen left, and the film's hook is that his father's hard-earned lessons may be his way out. The premise is a simple ticking-clock survival setup with an emotional grief angle, and at 106 minutes it should be tight if it keeps to that structure.

Austin Abrams carries the film as Jay, and much of the story rests on him alone in a confined, high-pressure situation. Josh Brolin plays Mitt Gardiner, and the father's influence on Jay is central to the plot, so his scenes should matter a great deal. Elisabeth Shue, Jane Levy, Emily Rudd and John Ortiz fill out a capable supporting cast, though the premise suggests most of the weight falls on the lead.

Brian Duffield takes on a high-concept survival thriller that has to balance claustrophobic tension with a story about a son and his father. The one-hour oxygen limit gives him a natural clock to build suspense around. How well he blends the thriller beats with the emotional material is the main question, and the middling early audience rating suggests the balance may be uneven.

Joseph Trapanese is the composer, and a film like this depends on a score that builds dread while leaving room for the grief at its centre. The facts available don't say how the music plays, so I'll keep this modest. It is a promising pairing for a tense, emotional thriller, but not something to oversell.

A film set largely inside a whale, with a diver racing against his air supply, lives or dies on how convincing its underwater world and creature work are. Expect the visuals to matter a lot here. I can't claim the effects are groundbreaking, but the concept demands strong craft, and a studio-backed production from 20th Century Studios and Imagine Entertainment suggests real resources.

The external rating is 6.5 from only 93 votes, so audience reaction is still thin and shouldn't be over-read. The premise should draw survival-thriller fans and viewers who like father-son stories. It is an English-language release with no certification listed yet, and there are no OTT platforms or box office figures to go by.