Dir. Brian Duffield · 2026 · 106 min · in cinemas
Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) is a diver who goes down into the cold water off Monterey Bay a year after his father's death, hoping to bring something of him home for his mother and sisters. Reaching for what he takes to be his father's remains, he is swallowed by a sperm whale. That is the premise, and it arrives early: the rest of the film is one man, an oxygen supply that will not last, and the inside of an animal. It is adapted from Daniel Kraus's 2023 novel, with Kraus and Duffield sharing the screenplay credit, and Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, Jane Levy and Emily Rudd round out the cast.
The premise is absurd and the film knows it, which is half the fun. Critics who liked it single out the staging: Roger Ebert's Zachary Lee praises the whale's interior as a cavernous, gory "pocket dimension", credits the cinematography of Aaron Morton and the production design of Ramsey Avery, and compares the set pieces to kaiju battles. Discussing Film reports that a full-scale whale stomach was built for the lead.
The other near-unanimous point is Abrams. Because he spends much of the film alone and behind a mask, with almost no dialogue, the performance has to be physical, and even the cooler reviews credit him for holding it. Screen Daily's Nikki Baughan calls the premise a stretch but still praises "an excellent lead performance from rising star Austin Abrams", according to Metacritic's listing.
The blending of the two tones is at times clumsy, other times poignant
Tyler Taing, Discussing Film
The split in the reviews is about the flashbacks. Between escape attempts, the film cuts to Jay's memories of his father, and several critics find the device repetitive. The Hollywood News calls it "a tad too overused" and melodramatic; Deep Focus Review's Brian Eggert, who gives the film two stars out of five, finds the flashbacks convenient and the digital effects of the whale's interior rarely convincing. Kat Hughes also warns that the stomach set can be hard to make out in the dark, which blunts the claustrophobia, and that the tension drops once the film leans into grief and mortality.
So critics are genuinely divided. Metacritic lists a Metascore of 62 from 25 reviews at the time of writing, with the highest marks near 90 and the lowest near 38, and some reviewers call it earnest and confident while others find it unintentionally funny. If you want a lean creature feature, you may be frustrated; if you want a survival film that is also about a father and son, the film is closer to what you came for.
If most of those describe you, go. If you wanted pure spectacle, wait for home viewing, ideally in a properly dark room.
It is in UK cinemas from 16 October 2026 according to The Hollywood News, and has been opening in other markets since 14 October, with the US date listed as 16 October. Availability and release dates vary by country, so check your local cinema listings.
Reviews and facts drawn on: Roger Ebert (Zachary Lee), The Hollywood News (Kat Hughes), Discussing Film (Tyler Taing), Deep Focus Review (Brian Eggert), Metacritic, Letterboxd and Wikipedia.