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"The Whale" is an abhorrent film, but it also features excellent performances.

It gawks at the grotesquerie of its central figure beneath the guise of sentimentality, but it also offers sharp exchanges between its characters that ring with bracing honesty.

It's the kind of film you should probably see if only to have an informed, thoughtful discussion about it, but it's also one you probably won't want to watch.

This aligns it with Darren Aronofsky's movies in general, which can often be a challenging sit. The director is notorious for putting his actors (and his audiences) through the wringer, whether it's Jennifer Connolly's drug addict in " Requiem for a Dream ," Mickey Rourke's aging athlete in " The Wrestler ," Natalie Portman's obsessed ballerina in " Black Swan ," or Jennifer Lawrence's besieged wife in "mother!" (For the record, I'm a fan of Aronofsky's work in general.)

But the difference between those films and "The Whale" is their intent, whether it's the splendor of their artistry or the thrill of their provocation. There's a verve to those movies, an unpredictability, an undeniable daring, and a virtuoso style. They feature images you've likely never seen before or since, but they'll undoubtedly stay with you afterward.

"The Whale" may initially feel gentler, but its main point seems to be sticking the camera in front of Brendan Fraser , encased in a fat suit that makes him appear to weigh 600 pounds, and asking us to wallow in his deterioration. In theory, we are meant to pity him or at least find sympathy for his physical and psychological plight by the film's conclusion. But in reality, the overall vibe is one of morbid fascination for this mountain of a man. Here he is, knocking over an end table as he struggles to get up from the couch; there he is, cramming candy bars in his mouth as he Googles "congestive heart failure." We can tsk-tsk all we like between our mouthfuls of popcorn and Junior Mints while watching Fraser's Charlie gobble greasy fried chicken straight from the bucket or inhale a giant meatball sub with such alacrity that he nearly chokes to death. The message "The Whale" sends us home with seems to be: Thank God that's not us.

In working from Samuel D. Hunter's script, based on Hunter's stage play, Aronofsky doesn't appear to be as interested in understanding these impulses and indulgences as much as pointing and staring at them. His depiction of Charlie's isolation within his squalid Idaho apartment includes a scene of him masturbating to gay porn with such gusto that he almost has a heart attack, a moment made of equal parts shock value and shame. But then, in a jarring shift, the tone eventually turns maudlin with Charlie's increasing martyrdom.

Within the extremes of this approach, Fraser brings more warmth and humanity to the role than he's afforded on the page. We hear his voice first; Charlie is a college writing professor who teaches his students online from behind the safety of a black square. And it's such a welcoming and resonant sound, full of decency and humor. Fraser's been away for a while, but his contradictions have always made him an engaging screen presence—the contrast of his imposing physique and playful spirit. He does so much with his eyes here to give us a glimpse into Charlie's sweet but tortured soul, and the subtlety he's able to convey goes a long way toward making "The Whale" tolerable.

But he's also saddled with a screenplay that spells out every emotion in ways that are so clunky as to be groan-inducing. At Charlie's most desperate, panicky moments, he soothes himself by reading or reciting a student's beloved essay on Moby Dick , which—in part—gives the film its title and will take on increasing significance. He describes the elusive white whale of Herman Melville's novel as he stands up, shirtless, and lumbers across the living room, down the hall, and toward the bedroom with a walker. At this moment, you're meant to marvel at the elaborate makeup and prosthetic work on display; you're more likely to roll your eyes at the writing.

"He thinks his life will be better if he can just kill this whale, but in reality, it won't help him at all," he intones in a painfully obvious bit of symbolism. "This book made me think about my own life," he adds as if we couldn't figure that out for ourselves.

A few visitors interrupt the loneliness of his days, chiefly Hong Chau as his nurse and longtime friend, Liz. She's deeply caring but also no-nonsense, providing a crucial spark to these otherwise dour proceedings. Aronofsky's longtime cinematographer, the brilliant Matthew Libatique , has lit Charlie's apartment in such a relentlessly dark and dim fashion to signify his sorrow that it's oppressive. Once you realize the entirety of the film will take place within these cramped confines, it sends a shiver of dread. And the choice to tell this story in the boxy, 1.33 aspect ratio further heightens its sense of dour claustrophobia.

But then "Stranger Things" star Sadie Sink arrives as Charlie's rebellious, estranged daughter, Ellie; her mom was married to Charlie before he came out as a gay man. While their first meeting in many years is laden with exposition about the pain and awkwardness of their time apart, the two eventually settle into an interesting, prickly rapport. Sink brings immediacy and accessibility to the role of the sullen but bright teenager, and her presence, like Chau's, improves "The Whale" considerably. Her casting is also spot-on in her resemblance to Fraser, especially in her expressive eyes.

The arrival of yet another visitor—an earnest, insistent church missionary played by Ty Simpkins —feels like a total contrivance, however. Allowing him inside the apartment repeatedly makes zero sense, even within the context that Charlie believes he's dying and wants to make amends. He even says to this sweet young man: "I'm not interested in being saved." And yet, the exchanges between Sink and Simpkins provide some much-needed life and emotional truth. The subplot about their unlikely friendship feels like something from a totally different movie and a much more interesting one.

Instead, Aronofsky insists on veering between cruelty and melodrama, with Fraser stuck in the middle, a curiosity on display.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Whale (2022)

Rated R for language, some drug use and sexual content.

117 minutes

Brendan Fraser as Charlie

Sadie Sink as Ellie

Hong Chau as Liz

Ty Simpkins as Thomas

Samantha Morton as Mary

Sathya Sridharan as Dan

• Darren Aronofsky

Writer (based on the play by)

• Samuel D. Hunter

Cinematographer

• Matthew Libatique
• Andrew Weisblum
• Rob Simonsen

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‘The Whale’ Review: Body Issues

Brendan Fraser plays an obese writing instructor reckoning with grief and regret in Darren Aronofsky’s latest film.

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By A.O. Scott

Charlie is a college writing instructor who never leaves his apartment. He conducts his classes online, disabling his laptop camera so the students can’t see him. The movie camera, guided by Darren Aronofsky and his go-to cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, also stays indoors most of the time. Occasionally you get an exterior view of the drab low-rise building where Charlie lives, or a breath of fresh air on the landing outside his front door. But these respites only emphasize a pervasive sense of confinement.

Based on a play by Samuel D. Hunter (who wrote the script), “The Whale” is an exercise in claustrophobia. Rather than open up a stage-bound text, as a less confident film director might, Aronofsky intensifies the stasis, the calamitous sense of stuckness that defines Charlie’s existence. Charlie is trapped — in his rooms, in a life that has run off the rails, and above all in his own body. He was always a big guy, he says, but after the suicide of his lover, his eating “just got out of control.” Now his blood pressure is spiking, his heart is failing, and the simple physical exertions of standing up and sitting down require enormous effort and mechanical assistance.

Charlie’s size is the movie’s governing symbol and principal special effect. Encased in prosthetic flesh, Brendan Fraser, who plays Charlie, gives a performance that is sometimes disarmingly graceful. He uses his voice and his big, sad eyes to convey a delicacy at odds with the character’s corporeal grossness. But nearly everything about Charlie — the sound of his breathing, the way he eats, moves and perspires — underlines his abjection, to an extent that starts to feel cruel and voyeuristic.

“The Whale” unfolds over the course of a week, during which Charlie receives a series of visits: from his friend and informal caretaker, Liz (Hong Chau); from Thomas (Ty Simpkins), a young missionary who wants to save his soul; from his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), and embittered ex-wife, Mary (Samantha Morton). There is also a pizza delivery guy (Sathya Sridharan), and a bird that occasionally shows up outside Charlie’s window. I’m not an ornithologist, but my guidebook identifies it as a Common Western Metaphor.

Speaking of which, Charlie is not the only whale in “The Whale.” His most prized possession is a student paper on “Moby-Dick,” the authorship of which is revealed at the movie’s end. It’s a fine piece of naïve literary criticism — maybe the best writing in the movie — about how Ishmael’s troubles compelled the author to think about “my own life.”

Perhaps Charlie’s troubles are meant to have the same effect. He becomes the nodal point in a web of trauma and regret, variously the agent, victim and witness of someone else’s unhappiness. He left Mary when he fell in love with a male student, Alan, who was Liz’s brother and had been raised in the church that Thomas represents. Mary, a heavy drinker, has kept Charlie away from Ellie, who has grown into a seething adolescent.

All this drama bursts out in freshets of stagy verbiage and blubbering. The script overwhelms narrative logic while demanding extra credit for emotional honesty. But the working out of the various issues involves a lot of blame-shifting and ethical evasion. Everyone and no one is responsible; actions do and don’t have consequences. Real-world topics like sexuality, addiction and religious intolerance float around untethered to any credible sense of social reality. The moral that bubbles up through the shouting (and the strenuous nerve-pumping of Robert Simonsen’s score) is that people are incapable of not caring about one another.

Maybe? Herman Melville and Walt Whitman provide some literary ballast for this idea, but as an exploration of — and argument for — the power of human sympathy, “The Whale” is undone by simplistic psychologizing and intellectual fuzziness.

Aronofsky has a tendency to misjudge his own strengths as a filmmaker. He is a brilliant manipulator of moods and a formidable director of actors, specializing in characters fighting their way through anguish and delusion toward something like transcendence. Mickey Rourke did that in “The Wrestler,” Natalie Portman in “Black Swan,” Russell Crowe in “Noah” and Jennifer Lawrence in “Mother!” Fraser makes a bid to join their company — Chau is also excellent — but “The Whale,” like some of Aronofsky’s other projects, is swamped by its grand and vague ambitions. It’s overwrought and also strangely insubstantial.

The Whale Rated R for abjection. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. In theaters.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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The Whale is being recognized for Brendan Fraser’s tremendous performance. And the actor, whose career was paused for a long while, deserves the accolades he is receiving for his turn as Charlie. Director Darren Aronofsky ’s latest feature, from a screenplay by Samuel D. Hunter, is powerful because of Fraser’s central performance. It’s the key to the movie’s success. While the film is determined to live in the pain felt and lobbed at its main character, there are moments of gentle vulnerability and contemplation in its exploration of guilt, redemption, grief, and trauma.

Charlie (Fraser) is a 600-pound English professor who is suffering from congestive heart failure. He lives alone and is primarily immobile, though he is visited often by his friend Liv (Hong Chau), who is also a nurse, and, frustratingly, by an annoyingly persistent missionary, Thomas (Ty Simpkins), who is trying to save Charlie. When Charlie is seized by pain, he reads from an essay about Moby-Dick to make him calm down and feel better. Knowing that he is reaching the end of his life, however, Charlie reaches out to his estranged daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), in the hopes of mending their relationship before he dies.

Related: The Whale Movie News & Updates: Everything We Know

Fraser’s performance is magnetic and nuanced. He imbues Charlie with so much optimism, kindness, and empathy. Whereas most of the characters, save for Liz, are pretty terrible and cruel, Charlie is not. The film acknowledges that he has been through a lot in his life. He lost the love of his life, he wasn’t able to be there for his daughter in the way he wanted to, and so on. Despite all the hardships, Charlie’s regrets and sadness don’t overcome his need to find pockets of light in an otherwise tragic situation. The Whale portrays Charlie through an empathetic lens. The story explores his character enough to understand him and his journey, from where he was to where his life ultimately led him. Other characters offer their sympathy and want to help, but it’s an instance where they themselves are lost and lashing out at someone who seems like an easy enough target. Charlie, however he is feeling, doesn’t take the bait most of the time.

The Whale is a poignant tale of grief, regret, and redemption. It sees Charlie looking back on his life — the joys and the missteps along the way — as death nears, but it also contemplates religion, sexuality, and parenthood. The film is bolstered by a riveting performance by Brendan Fraser , who portrays Charlie’s every emotion with sincerity and sensitivity. His performance is grounded and honest, beautiful in the way the actor deepens and humanizes Charlie. Without Fraser, The Whale wouldn’t be what it is, especially as aspects of the script are surface-level at best and unnecessarily melodramatic at worst. Still, Charlie’s journey, his desire to love and be loved, evokes a tender, compassionate emotional reaction. After all that he’s been through, the traumas he’s experienced, and shortcomings as a father, Charlie wants only to look upon the world and his life with bright, hopeful eyes and see the beauty in it. What Fraser manages to pull off in his performance is lovely, and it’s one of the strongest, most heartening aspects of the film.

Aronofsky’s film is not without its pitfalls. There’s a lot of verbal abuse thrown at Charlie, and daughter Ellie is especially abhorrent in her treatment of him. The cruelty in some of the characters’ actions and words can get excessive, making for a painful watch at times. This is especially true when Aronofsky’s direction showcases Charlie in a horrific light, one that is meant to disgust viewers instead of reaching for the empathy that is offered in other scenes. It’s as though the filmmakers wanted to subject Charlie to the worst of the worst before the film’s ending, and it’s this seeming desire to cause unending pain for the lead that might turn viewers off.

While The Whale is never dull, its over-the-top theatrical staging turns certain elements of the script into an aggressive melodrama that doesn’t always work. Character dialogue — save for Hong Chau as Liz, who brings equal parts heart and frustration to her role — reaches for excess in parts when thoughtful consideration would have sufficed. The Whale is nonetheless memorable, if one is able to sit through Charlie’s pain, because of its handling of regret, guilt, and grief. Though it often offers surface-level readings about religion and father-daughter relationships, in particular, the film is worth the watch for Fraser’s performance alone.

The Whale had its premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11. The film releases in theaters on December 9. It is 117 minutes long and is not yet rated.

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In ‘The Whale,’ Brendan Fraser brilliantly embodies a man hopeful for others but tired of himself

Veteran actor delivers the best work of his career in darren aronofsky’s heartbreakingly moving story..

Self-destructive Charlie (Brendan Fraser) never leaves his apartment in Darren Aronofsky’s film “The Whale.”

Controversy has swirled around “The Whale” for months leading up to its theatrical release, with some criticizing the film for casting Brendan Fraser and not an obese actor in the role of a 600-pound recluse and others saying it perpetuates stereotypes of overweight people.

With all great respect to those who have voiced those concerns, I couldn’t disagree more. I found Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the stage work by Samuel D. Hunter (who wrote the screenplay) to be an empathetic, haunting, beautiful, heartbreakingly moving story of a broken man in the throes of addiction who has a huge heart and believes people can be really and truly good — but has landed in a place in his own life where he lacks the energy and the will to remain in this world.

To be sure, “The Whale” can be a difficult watch, as is the case with Aronofsky’s films of excess and psychological trauma such as “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan,” but to me it never came across as uncaring or exploitative. (As for the use of prosthetics and CGI: Actors have always utilized makeup, wigs, elaborate costumes, padded suits and in more recent years special effects to transform themselves and become one with their characters. It’s an essential part of the craft.)

Fraser’s Charlie is an enormous mountain of a man with thinning hair, sympathetic eyes and an expression that often makes it look as if he’s just received some sad news. Charlie has practically become one with the sofa in the living room of his dark, second-floor apartment in Idaho, where he teaches expository writing to online college students via his laptop, always keeping his own video off and telling his class the camera on his computer is broken.

It’s been years since Charlie has ventured into the outside world, as he self-medicates with sessions of frantic binge-eating of pizzas and fried chicken and meatball subs and chocolate — but he’s hardly shut off from the outside world. Over the course of one week, there’s a revolving door of visits from three individuals: his friend and caregiver Liz (Hong Chau), a nurse who alternates between scolding Charlie for his self-destructive habits and comforting him with hugs and more food; a young man named Thomas (Ty Simpkins), an inexperienced missionary from the New Life Church who becomes hell-bent on saving Charlie, though Charlie has no interest in being saved, and Charlie’s estranged 17-year-old daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), an angry and seemingly horrible girl who only agrees to visit him now because he’s literally going to pay her for her time.

We learn that after Charlie left Ellie’s mother Mary (Samantha Morton) for a young man nearly a decade ago, Mary got full custody and completely cut off Charlie from Ellie. We learn Charlie is in a state of congestive heart failure and likely will be dead in a week if he doesn’t go to the hospital, yet Charlie refuses. We learn a great number of other things about Charlie, and Liz, and that persistent and mysterious missionary named Thomas — and when Mary storms in late in the proceedings, grabs a bottle from a cabinet, starts drinking and lays into Charlie, we learn more about their past as well. In every one of these cases,Hunter’s brilliant screenplay takes us in directions we might not expect and adds layers of insight into each character and what motivates them.

All the while, we feel this tremendous affection for Charlie and great sadness for him — and we share Liz’s frustrations with him, and we want to scream at him to fight for himself. If Charlie truly believes people are capable of such great generosity of heart, if he means what he says when he tells the hateful Ellie she’s an amazing person, why doesn’t he want to stick around to see Ellie flourish, why does he seem so resigned to his fate and so unwilling to do anything about it?

Hong Chau deserves award consideration for her performance as Charlie’ frustrated caregiver.

That’s the thing of it. Charlie believes he has reached the point of no return. All he wants to do is hear a certain essay about “Moby Dick” that was written long ago and carries great meaning to him — to hear that essay one last time, and to perhaps achieve some sort of resolution with Ellie and to make her see that beneath her cruelty and her abrasiveness, she truly is amazing, and he simply wasn’t equipped to be her father all these years ago.

Remaining faithful to the play, “The Whale” takes place almost entirely inside Charlie’s apartment, save for a few brief exterior shots, and yet thanks to director Aronofsky, the fluid cinematography by Matthew Libatique and the exquisite production design, the film never feels static or stagey. Certain hallways and rooms and secrets reveal themselves as we go along. Everyone in the small ensemble is outstanding, with Hong Chau deserving supporting actress consideration for her memorable portrayal of Liz, a character of such depth she could have a movie of her own.

Front and center, of course, is Brendan Fraser, who proved he could be a commercial star in mainstream adventures such as “George of the Jungle” and “The Mummy” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and demonstrated he could be a fine actor in films such as “Gods and Monsters” and “Crash,” and now delivers the finest work of his career. Fraser becomes Charlie and infuses him with intelligence, pathos, humor and heart. It is one of the best performances of the year in one of the best movies of the year.

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The Whale review – Brendan Fraser is remarkable in knotty drama of self-destruction

The Oscar-nominated star plays a chronically obese man in Darren Aronofsky’s clammy, uncomfortable but ultimately redeeming movie

I t’s a slippery thing, the latest film from Darren Aronofsky. And not just because of the air of general clamminess that pervades this claustrophobic theatre adaptation (although if it were possible for a camera lens to sweat, then cinematographer Matthew Libatique’s would probably do so throughout). More, it’s due to the effortlessly duplicitous way the director pushes and pulls the audience of this story of grief and self-destruction, starring a fat-suited Brendan Fraser as Charlie, a chronically obese shut-in who is belatedly trying to rebuild his relationship with his estranged daughter.

Aronofsky challenges us to see beyond our biases and pre-programmed ideas of attractiveness to find beauty in Charlie, in the warm, enveloping melody of his speaking voice, in his poetic, passionate soul. But at the same time he shoots Charlie in a way that accentuates the indignity of his mostly sofa-based existence. The camera is positioned low as Charlie heaves himself to his feet, reducing this complex, wounded character to little more than a cascade of flesh. Then there’s the airless, slightly unsavoury lighting and colour palette of Charlie’s living space, which looks like it was shot from the inside of a particularly fetid laundry basket. The film sets out to repulse us, and it frequently succeeds. It would be easy, and tempting, to dismiss it out of hand.

But that would be to disregard its redeeming strength – the authentically knotty characters and the performances that inhabit them. And not just the recently Oscar-nominated Fraser, although he is remarkable, his personal magnetism working overtime. Also superb is Hong Chau, as Liz, Charlie’s friend and carer, and, in a blistering cameo as Charlie’s ex-wife, the always formidable Samantha Morton.

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The Whale (2022)

• User Reviews
• The philosophy. At the same time, I think this movie frequently veers into melodrama. Fraser's whole speech about um...college not mattering because what matters is (*checks papers*) that you can write a short sentence about yourself is what REALLY matters...was cringey, to say the least. The movie is extremely on the nose at times and sometimes feels like it's hand holding the audience. Aronofsky typically makes quite challenging movies, and I have to wonder if the studio insist he make this clearer and more straightforward.
• One note. Another thing, and consider this a minor negative, but aside from a few moments of levity, this is an otherwise pretty miserable movie. I don't know, felt like given the run time, we could've used a bit more variety.
• Sadie Sink and her Mom. I understand why Sink's Ellie acts the way she does, and I feel she is redeemed in the end, but OH MAN, is she one of the most irritating teens I've seen on screen in a while. Samantha Morton's Mary on the other hand...gave one of the most "play like" performances in the film, with even her voice sounding weirdly clearer and louder than others in the film. It's as if she's...on stage or something, and maybe it was intentional, but her scene just felt off to me for that reason.

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• Venice Review: Brendan Fraser Gives a Mournful, Moving Performance in the Excessively Dreary <i>The Whale</i>

Venice Review: Brendan Fraser Gives a Mournful, Moving Performance in the Excessively Dreary The Whale

T he tragedy and wonder of movies is that it’s not just what they’re about that matters, it’s how they’re about what they’re about. In Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale —playing in competition at the 79th Venice Film Festival — Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a man who has given up on life, which in turn affects how and what he eats. He gets takeout pizza every night, and finds solace in big, messy sandwiches and buckets of fried chicken. He has drawers full of candy bars that he dips into while he’s grading papers—he’s a writing instructor who teaches exclusively online, with his camera off so his students can’t see him. This is because Charlie is undeniably obese: he can’t get around without a walker or wheelchair, and getting into and out of bed would be impossible without a ceiling-mounted pull-up bar. In fact, he never leaves the house, not even for medical care. He has no insurance, so he relies on his closest—and only—friend, Liz ( Hong Chau , in a bright, bracing performance), who is, luckily, a nurse, and who also has a knack for stopping by at just the right moment. On one such visit, after Charlie has suffered a kind of seizure, she takes his blood pressure: it’s 238 over 134. She urges him to go to the hospital; he refuses, claiming that he doesn’t have the money.

This is a story about a person in deep pain—which is to say its impulses are honorable. (It’s adapted from a play by Samuel D. Hunter.) And the film is at times incredibly moving, thanks to Fraser’s refined, mournful performance. Fraser wore a fatsuit to play the role, which has occasioned some critical online chatter. But for better or worse, this is a movie about a man who finds himself in an extreme situation, and to read it as a body-acceptance parable would be missing the point. It’s a drama about how grief can twist our lives out of control, a story that urges sympathy for its main character. Both of those aims are noble and decent.

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But that doesn’t make The Whale a great movie, or even a particularly good one. Aronofsky is one of those directors who incites fierce defensiveness in some and outright derision in others, but almost no one is neutral about him. His last film, the 2017 crazytown terrorized-wife fantasy Mother! was to some a tortured, pointless spectacle, to others a cautionary tale about the potential cruelty of the creative impulse. His 2010 nutso-ballerina saga Black Swan was either a work of spangled dorkiness that was impossible to take seriously, or a cautionary tale about the potential cruelty of the creative impulse. Are you seeing a pattern here?

The Whale, at least, is a different kind of film for Aronofsky, who has managed to pry the camera’s gaze away from his own navel. Even so, there’s plenty of look-at-me bravado in the excessive dreariness of his approach. Shot by his frequent collaborator Matthew Libatique, the movie has a dank, used-dishwater look—to represent Charlie’s despair, the total lack of light in his life, of course. Charlie’s body is often constrained by the frame, just to make sure we really, really get how restricted his life is. When you hear somber, flutey music on the soundtrack, don’t be surprised if the needle on your pathos detector is swerves far into the red. There are also times when Aronofsky leans in a little too heavily on the sweat stains, front and back, that streak Charlie’s T-shirts, or the greasiness around his lips as he tears into his food. Aronosfky is walking a fine line between compassion and exploitation here. Even if he means well, he still tips over that line now and then.

But sometimes an actor can help minimize a director’s shortcomings, and that’s what Fraser does here. Charlie is an extremely kind, smart, sensitive person who has been undone by grief. He was married once, and the story’s dramatic stakes shoot sky-high when his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie ( Sadie Sink ), shows up. She hasn’t done so unbidden—Charlie hasn’t seen her in years, and he has longed to be in touch with her. But he left her and her mother (played by an uncharacteristically tinny, pinched-looking Samantha Morton) when Ellie was just eight, and neither have forgiven him—especially because he left them for a man, the love of his life, who has since died.

Read more reviews by Stephanie Zacharek

Another character, a fresh-faced door-to-door missionary played by Ty Simpkins, has a tenuous connection to the circumstances that caused the death of Charlie’s partner. All of these people converge on Charlie’s cramped apartment just as he’s enduring—or hanging onto—his last days of life. Charlie’s grief, and what he sees as the mistakes he’s made in his life, have filled him with anxiety and guilt, and the only way he can cope with those feelings is to eat his way through them, even past the point where he knows his excessive weight is killing him. His compulsion is a kind of suicide pact he’s made with himself, and he’s locked in a tricky cycle: his increasing weight seems to have made him more depressed and less able to cope, a condition he self-medicates by eating. (The movie’s title is a reference to Moby Dick, the subject of an essay Charlie loves and returns to again and again for comfort.)

The point of Fraser’s performance, though, is to see the person as opposed to just the body. Ellie is, as her mother correctly notes at one point, a truly awful teenager, though her father sees only her intelligence and honesty. He keeps using the adjective “amazing” to describe her, and the more he uses it, the more we almost believe it, though her behavior keeps reinforcing our initial impression. At one point she demands that her father stand up and walk to her unassisted, a seemingly simple task that’s completely beyond him—it’s horrifying when he barrels to the floor.

Charlie is a bit of a pushover, too eager to see the good in others even as he’s unable to acknowledge his own sterling qualities. Early in the film, Liz tells Charlie he’ll die of congestive heart failure within days if he doesn’t seek treatment, which he of course refuses to do. The mechanics of this story demand that others must be redeemed, even if it’s too late for Charlie to save himself. You can predict the essence of the film’s ending, if not its specifics, very early on.

But Fraser—always a wonderful actor, and one who hasn’t had the career he deserves—defies the predictability of the movie’s arc. He shows us Charlie’s self-pity, and allows it to be annoying. There are so many ways in which this guy is just a drag to be around; his self-destruction is at least partly entwined with his self-centeredness. Fraser doesn’t just give us permission to feel exasperation for this character; he guides us right to those feelings.

And yet to look into his eyes is to see a person who’s willing himself to die, even as he wishes he had the will to live. I’m not sure it’s possible to watch this flawed film, which grooves too self-indulgently on its own gloomy vibe, and not wish you could reach out to Charlie, to find the right thing to say, to help without rendering judgment. It almost seems as if Charlie, in his kindness, is comforting us for our own feelings of futility. But really, that’s Fraser at work, not telling us what to feel, but reassuring us that it’s OK to feel.

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Civil War Takes Aim at Massive Global Box Office Milestone

• Civil War broke A24 records, nearing $100M globally, proving mid-budget films can succeed, like Everything Everywhere All at Once .
• The movie overtook Talk to Me as A24's 2nd largest global hit, surpassing $90M and performing better than popular A24 titles.
• A24's first box office success, Civil War 's $96M milestone, was aided by controversy, divisive reviews, IMAX push, and high Rotten Tomatoes score.

Nearly a month into its theatrical release, writer-director Alex Garland ’s Civil War has delivered on high expectations, and then some. The dystopian thriller was given the responsibility of ushering A24 into a new era of higher budget filmmaking, and has now broken nearly every record that it could , with a couple more still on the cards. This weekend — its fourth — the film slipped out of the top five at the domestic box office for the first time in its run, collecting $3.5 million from a little over 2,600 theaters. This pushed the movie closer to a majestic milestone, and past last year’s Talk to Me to become A24’s second-biggest global box office hit .

With $62 million domestically and another $33 million from overseas markets, Civil War ’s cumulative global gross stands at nearly $96 million . The movie will likely hit the coveted $100 million milestone in the next few days, doubling its reported production budget of $50 million — the highest-ever for an A24 film . The indie outfit has developed a strong brand identity over the last decade, having delivered numerous well-regarded films across genres. A24 experienced something of a pinnacle of movie-making success a couple of years ago, when Everything Everywhere All at Once not only emerged as its highest-grossing film both domestically and worldwide, but also picked up five Oscars in major categories. Another A24 film, The Whale , won in the sole category that Everything Everywhere All at Once couldn’t plant its flag on, thereby completing a sweep.

Everything Everywhere All at Once remains A24’s biggest film, with $77 million domestically and over $140 million worldwide. Both these figures seem a little too high for Civil War to realistically challenge at this stage in the game. But this past week, the movie overtook Talk to Me ’s $92 million lifetime haul to become the studio’s second-biggest global hit. It had already claimed this title on the domestic front, having overtaken Uncut Gems ’ $50 million haul some days ago. Over the course of its run, Civil War has out-performed popular A24 titles such as Hereditary , Lady Bird , Moonlight , Midsommar , and The Iron Claw .

Could 'Civil War' Bring Back Mid-Budget Studio Movies?

The film marks A24’s first real attempt at box office success , and has successfully proven that there’s an audience for the exact category of film that Hollywood had mostly turned its back on in recent years. The success of Amazon MGM’s Challengers in its immediate aftermath — the movie was also produced for around $50 million — cemented the notion that mid-budget movies are a viable box office play . Civil War also benefited from controversy surrounding its subject matter and divisive reviews, although its Rotten Tomatoes score paints a rosier picture at 81%. In his review , Collider’s Matthew Donato called it Garland’s “best film yet.”

Civil War follows a group of war journalists on a cross-country journey to Washington D.C., where they intend to cover a brewing insurrection against the dictatorial president. Starring Kirsten Dunst , Cailee Spaeny , Wagner Moura , Stephen McKinley Henderson , and Jesse Plemons in a scene-stealing cameo, the movie was also given a push on the IMAX format. You can watch Civil War in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

The film follows events in the U.S. during a civil war. Government forces attack civilians. Journalists are shot in the Capitol.

Release Date April 12, 2024

Director Alex Garland

Cast Jefferson White, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Kirsten Dunst

25 years after its release, The Mummy still has one of the most underserved Rotten Tomatoes scores of all time

Opinion | The Mummy's filmmaking legacy deserves to be recognized

In the 25 years since The Mummy was released, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched it. It started as a staple of my childhood, becoming the go-to Sunday film I’d watch with my mom while she did the ironing. These viewings started early, too, after I promised I wouldn’t get nightmares from watching it as a nine-year-old (reader, I lied). This continued well into my teenage years when the film would become my essential escapism hit. Still now, if I’m feeling under the weather or I just need a pick-me-up from the stresses of life, I’ll get out my trusty DVD for another whirl of Rick O’Connor and Evelyn Carnahan’s Egyptian adventures. 

I’m not alone either. A huge part of the so-called 'Brendan Fraser renaissance' over the past few years has been fuelled by people with a deep love for Rick’s sarcastic quips. Whether it be think pieces on the film’s everlasting appeal , dedicated homages to Evelyn’s impeccable wardrobe , or the tearful social media responses to Fraser winning the Oscar for The Whale , the love for this cheesy, absorbing cult classic runs deep. 

So it’s a real shame then that such a beloved movie only has a measly 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes . And look, I know it shouldn’t matter, and the audience score sits a fair bit higher at 75%, but the truth is that Rotten Tomatoes scores do matter when it comes to new audiences discovering films. I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked up the stats to weigh up what movie next to stream, often opting for the higher one in the hope that it’s a sign of quality. So here’s my argument to you: it’s time to look beyond The Mummy’s RT score and view it as the masterpiece it is.

Test of time

The critical consensus for Stephen Sommers-directed film on the review aggregation website reads as follows: "It's difficult to make a persuasive argument for The Mummy as any kind of meaningful cinematic achievement, but it's undeniably fun to watch." It’s a glib reflection on the film, which I’d argue should be a blueprint for how to tackle action-adventure storytelling.

First and foremost, the narrative is tightly woven and perfectly pitched. We begin with the origins of this evil curse haunting Egypt, as high priest Imhotep has an affair with Anck-su-namun. Within the opening ten minutes, we have watched a man being mummified alive and a shoot-out at the base of the god Anubis’ statue. Does it get more thrilling than that?

The high tension and pacy storytelling continues as we follow Evelyn, Rick, and John Hannah’s hilarious and often wildly accented Jonathan as they head in search of this ancient evil. Add in plagues, an immortal mummy, and some terrifying cats, and the film is an action romp that you can’t help but get swept up in. 

However, most importantly, The Mummy also remembers the significance of the romance at its heart between Rick and Evelyn. Taking its inspiration from films like Romancing the Stone and Indiana Jones, the dynamic between the two leads holds the whole story together. Weisz and Fraser have fantastic chemistry, and their sarcastic banter works perfectly without detracting from the adventure. Whether she’s telling him that "patience is a virtue" or they’re bonding over her love of ancient Egypt, the sparks between the couple elevate the film beyond a simple action movie. 

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Add to this scares that still send chills down your spine 25 years later, from that mummy jump scare to those dehydrated bodies, and some pitch-perfect humor, and it’s hard to see how The Mummy has been reduced to just being "fun" and inessential.

Future hopes

For me, the legacy of The Mummy can be keenly felt in this sub-genre of movies to date, fuelling the creation of some best adventure romances of recent years. Whether that be Will and Elizabeth’s dynamic in Pirates of the Caribbean or even more spoof-heavy takes like The Lost City , the influence of the film can be felt deeply.

So what of the future? Well, previously Hollywood has learned the wrong lessons from films like this, spotting love and adoration from audiences and misconstruing it as an indicator that audiences want more sequels and reboots. Unfortunately, this is something that’s happened aplenty with The Mummy, whether it be that ill-fated Tom Cruise remake or the third film in the saga that we do not talk about .

Instead, I hope we’ll approach this outpouring of support in another way. I’m heartened by its return to theaters across the US, where new audiences will be brought along by nostalgic fans to discover it for the first time. Most of all, I hope that viewers will see past that low score and give it a shot because who knows, The Mummy could become another generations’ comfort watch in the years to come too. Now that’s a win for librarians everywhere. 

The Mummy is back in theaters now.

For what else is on its way, here's our guide to all of the upcoming movies to add to your diaries.

I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I've also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.

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