Whistle (2002)

Too much of everything

A lot of fun.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I recently watched Duncan Jones' first full-length film, "Moon" and I was exceptionally impressed. The film was extremely inventive, unique and was amazing to look at considering it had a minuscule budget AND was set on the moon! So, when I noticed that "Whistle" was included as a bonus on the DVD, I was excited to watch it too.The film begins with a British family relocating to another country (it looks like Switzerland to me). The wife did not like the move and you wonder why the husband would do this. Then, you slowly start to realize--he's an assassin! Now you never are sure WHO he works for, but you can assume he's not just some mercenary--as he DOES have a conscience. And, that's the problem--because one of his killings goes terribly wrong...and he cannot live with himself. What's next? See the short film.The story is exciting, interesting and is very, very impressive considering Duncan Jones was inexperienced when he made this film. Taken along with "Moon", he is definitely a man to watch. And, incidentally, he's the son of David Bowie (whose real last name is Jones). Well worth seeing.

While MOON--the first feature effort by WHISTLE director Duncan Jones--is a decent sci-fi exercise, only D.J. "completists" will find this preposterously-premised short worth a half hour of their time. I found the Swiss scenery about the only worthwhile aspect of this family-man-by-day, techno-assassin-by-day yarn. When Groucho Marx famously proclaimed "I shot an elephant in my pajamas!" he was only JOKING. But Jones seems to be trying to stretch Groucho's thin comment into the basis for his spin on THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, as in, perhaps, THE NAP OF THE PEKINGESE. Seldom has so much effort been expended to accomplish so little. Perhaps such a waste of time would be excusable if it was coming as an ill-formed comedy skit from an SNL dim bulb. But viewers expect more in the thriller and\or sci-fi genres, and WHISTLE appears to have veered way off course while it was still in the concept stage. About the only positive lesson that can be derived from this misfire is that not every successful director will produce a humdinger his or her first time out of the chute. After all, Robert Redford may have won Oscar with his ORDINARY PEOPLE debut, but he wasn't exactly sun-dancing during the preceding decade or two.

Duncan Jones's 'Whistle' tells an amusing little tale of a hit-man using ultra high-tech to complete his missions. The plot may appear a little contrived (it's only thirty minutes long) but it still manages to engage and entertain. The main concept is barely original but the idea of using high-tech and I thought the cold relationship between the husband and wife was interesting as it sort of adds up in the end. The acting is adequate. Jones's special effects are minimal but effective nonetheless. The gadgets and gizmos look very real. Jones also seems to know how to use music in a film because the soundtrack here is outstanding. With his first film, he already shows a lot of promise and, last year, with his first major feature film, Jones proves that he's here to stay.

A short 30-minute film from the director of MOON (2009) found among the bonus material on the latter's Special Edition DVD from Sony; a bit slow to start as it depicts the dreary off-hours of an ultra-technological hit-man but the viewer's interest is elevated once he becomes 'involved' in the life of one of his victims. Again, hardly an original concept in itself, but what is interesting here is the fact that the hit-man's wife is not only fully cognizant of her hubby's day job but she is also the cold-blooded contact with his bosses when the conscience crisis sets in! I do not know if it was intentional or not but I found the preposterous nature of the killings – the hit-man uses a bulky contraption in his balcony to shoot his intended victims over great distances! – to be quite amusing (while also turning the film into borderline sci-fi territory).