Whistle (2002) User Reviews

WHISTLE (Duncan Jones, 2002) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 19 February 2010]

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).

This clunker is no MOON--it's more of a pain in the asteroid!

[charlytully · 5/10 · 13 May 2011]

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.

Did the world really need another film about a hit-man?

[benoit-3 · 5/10 · 14 March 2010]

The director is an up-and-coming next-generation whiz kid who has worked with Tony Scott and eventually directed the excellent sci-fi success "Moon" (2009), recognized everywhere in the world except the US. It is just too bad that he had to start his directing career with yet another killer-for-hire story. I mean: don't they already represent roughly 50% of film production worldwide?

The fact the killing is done with exotic, high-tech means bordering on the latest bloody video games is not an innovation. I found it impossible to have any sympathy for the main character for the following reasons:

(1) we don't know why he is killing the people he is killing;

(2) we know that his wife is fully cognizant of her husband's profession and even encourages him to stick with it through bouts of depression and that she is pretty much in a killer premenstrual world of her own all through the 30-minute film; apparently, the cow has absolutely no moral qualms about her second-storey balcony being used as an intercontinental missile launch pad or the fact that her son is raised in a murderer's den but the weather in Switzerland simply gives her conniption fits(!);

(3) the hero's five-year old son is an emotionally retarded - and singularly inexpressive - quasi-autistic child whose only sign of life and contact with the outside world is that he is terminally addicted to video games (like his father);

(4) in the general context of killing-as-a-profession, the bucolic "normal" Swiss postcard environment depicted is positively stomach-churning;

(5) there is no possible way the viewer can be made to interpret with any certainty the meaning of the ending: was the anti-hero really trying to talk to his last victim's widow, and, if so, for what purpose? To tell her "Oh, by the way, I'm the one who offed your husband. He was a really bad man but I didn't mean to also pulverize your little girl. I'll try to do a better job next time, O.K."? Or was he deliberately setting himself up for a hit job (a suicide)? In both cases, the victim's widow's life is put at risk and we are asked to believe that this killer has a "conscience", which is itself one the most revolting aspects of the hit-man genre in general in that it asks the viewer to empathize with the angst, mood swings, family dramas and ingrown toenails of the perpetrator while not giving a rat's patoot for his victims.

Technical note: This is the point in the film where the "whistle" of the title should be heard but isn't due to an inexplicable oversight in the sound editing.

But then the film's other trappings are so sophisticated in their own polished and narcissistic way that no viewer will dare mention that last reservation aloud and everybody will pretend that they fully get the film's meaning.

In conclusion, "Whistle" is a shabby little shocker that assumes the worst about its viewer's moral values and intelligence level. If it is meant to be satirical or somehow "funny", this dimension totally escaped me, unless there is a parallel to be drawn between the hero's wife and the cows insistently mooing in the Alpine countryside.

High-Tech Hit-man

[Chrysanthepop · 13 March 2010]

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.

He's an absolute beginner.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 23 January 2020]

Included as an extra on the DVD of Moon, this earlier short from director Duncan Jones sees British high-tech assassin Ryan (Dominic Mafham) settling down with his wife and son in Switzerland, where he continues his nefarious work using satellite computer imaging to locate his targets and long-range, laser-sighted weaponry to bump them off. When his latest hit goes awry, killing not only the intended victim but his young daughter too, Ryan develops a conscience and leaves home to speak to the dead man's wife. In doing so, he breaks protocol and compromises the security of his family and his superior. As a result, the assassin finds himself targeted by his own deadly gadgetry, his impending fate signaled by a high pitched whistle (either that or someone left a kettle on the hob).

Jones's lack of experience (this was his first time behind the camera) results in a film that is very rough around the edges, with poor storytelling and weak performances (Mafham makes for a forgettable lead) not exactly helping an already far-fetched premise. Moon was a definitely a 'giant leap' for the director, who has since gone on to direct three more features that I have yet to see. I sincerely hope they showed signs of further improvement, because his next film is an adaptation of 2000 A.D. comic strip Rogue Trooper, and I REALLY don't want him to mess that up.

An impressive debut film.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 7 March 2014]

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.

Jones' craft not yet on par with his vision

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 January 2017]

"Whistle" is a British short film from 2002, so this one has its 15th anniversary this year. It runs for slightly under half an hour and was the very first film and only short film written and directed by (then not yet) BAFTA-winning filmmaker Duncan Jones ("Moon", "Source Code", "Warcraft") and he was 30 at that point. I guess this is also the main reason why this one is relatively known today. But I must say that Jones did not impress me yet in here. The story about a hit-man performing a crucial job is basically fine, but the attention to detail was far from as good as it could have been. I also think that lead actor Dominic Mafham may not have been the best choice as there is nothing really evil or bad-ass about his performance. Winman gives a better performance, but nothing too memorable there either. The ending was really wide open and I was quite surprised when the closing credits rolled in, even to an extent where I wondered if Jones will continue the story in a full feature film at some point. I'd probably not be too interested in checking that one out as this short film did not get me curious to a level where I would care about a sequel. Not recommended.