Whisper (2007)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Maid In Manhatten is a charmer of a romantic comedy, made successful by its excellent cast. In lesser hands, actor-wise, this could have been a dud, but it's got such a talented troupe populating it that it comes out a winner on all fronts. Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes play the two lucky lovers, and as soon as one sees those two names attached to a title, one knows that we're in for something nice. Throw in Bob Hoskins, Stanley Tucci and the late Natasha Richardson and you've got yourself a stable full of actors who could be saddled with the worst script written and still be compelling. Thankfully they are given a wonderful little script here, and all own it. Lopez plays a maid at a swanky NYC hotel, and Fiennes is the carefree politician who drops in for a campaign stay. The two hit it off in a rumpus of accidentally mistaken identity, blossoming love from both sides of the tracks and the kind of slight, laid back charm that makes these flicks what they are. Lopez is a fierce and feminine presence in any film and I've always thought she should have focused primarily on acting, she's terrific at it. Fiennes is.. well he's superb in anything and the chemistry between the two isn't a pairing you'd expect, but works pretty well. Stanley Tucci could play a tree and still steal every moment, and is pure magic as Fiennes's harried assistant. Bob Hoskins is usually a pissy tornado, but seems incredibly reserved here, as the hotel's head butler who has a lesson of nobility and humility to teach Lopez. Natasha Richardson is the ditzy British blonde and plays it in pure 1960's mode, delightful and a reminder of the pure anguish that is still felt upon losing her presence in film. The film has just enough fluff and romance, and just enough solidly grounded writing to hold you through til the end, whilst Lopez and Fiennes, an unlikely pair, keep it real.

Whisper has the potential to be a really good movie. The interplay between all the kidnappers is very interesting, the scenery is beautiful and most of the actors are really good - Sarah Wayne Callies and Joel Edgerton especially.The main problem seems to be that the film is trying to be too many things at once - Omen, plus a kidnapping film, plus some sort of cop thing. The result being that none of these elements are played out to their full potential. The film ends up relying too much on jump scares, the rivalry between the two cops doesn't really add anything to the plot, the character of Max (while Josh Holloway is a good actor) is kind of boring compared to the other kidnappers and the soundtrack is ridiculously overwrought at times (also, Dulé Hill's moustache looks ridiculous) While it is still an interesting film, it doesn't really stand out from the crowd.

Not terribly impressed with Whisper for reasons that follow. The trailer pretty much gives everything away. What you see is what you get, except that the film does have a few twists and turns. The child actor who, as we know from the trailer, is abducted, is almost nauseatingly conceited and OVER ACTS in his role. There are some interesting parts of the storyline which could have been better developed, not to mention a deeper character development wouldn't have hurt. There are times it seems the film drags on and then "BOO", a scary moment appears. I read some other reviews of this title and someone compared this film to The Ring and The Omen. The Ring? No, The Ring was very well done and Whisper is nothing like The Ring, which did have genuine creepy moments. As for The Omen, well, we know (again just by viewing the trailer) that there is something wrong with this boy but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is as good as The Omen. Similar behaviour, perhaps, but nowhere near as good. Finally, I did enjoy the kidnapping aspects and how that unfolded, which made the film more of a Thriller.This film is great for the average individual or group looking for a scary thrill but will not hold up to the standards of big Horror fans.

Its very surprising to see a top studio like Universal let a rookie writer and rookie director make a complete hash of a movie. This movie had so many plot holes I don't know where to begin. Most importantly though, we never find out what David was, an angel, a demon, a child with amazing powers, were the others just having visions etc. At least in a movie like the Omen, you knew what the child stood for. And like many other poorly written and contrived movies, the ending was very weak, the kid was made out to be invincible so he shouldn't have died and I don't think anybody got anything out of max giving away the money. The alternate ending was better but this movie was so poorly put together, nothing could really save it. In the making of on the DVD, a lot was made of the fact that Dean Cundey was the director of photography (when do they ever get top billing) and it transpired that he was helping the director do most of the shoots which goes back to my original point. At least the beautiful sarah wayne callies was worth looking at.