The film niche sub-genre where the audience’s point of view is the computer screen has been around for a bit. I was expecting some subversion or innovation to it in this film. Unfortunately, I have to say I think we pretty much got just the same thing that has been done at this point, and I don’t think it was really better executed or outstanding in any way. This is basically a by-the-numbers online thriller, and I didn’t feel it was engaging enough.

#Blue_Whale (2021) was directed by Anna Zaytseva. Dana (Anna Potebnya) has lost her younger sister. They fought a lot, but they also loved each other. Dana finds clues that she might have been playing some online suicide game and tries to get into it to uncover the people running it. This movie would be an original if you have never seen other films of the same sub-genre. It also borrows heavily from other films, trying to emulate and fright but with little efficacy.

It doesn’t work. The performances are not groundbreaking, but they would do. The villain/villains are icons on a screen. None of the characters seem interesting enough for us to care about them. The whole plot preys on the usual fear of parents thinking kids get into suicide games for popularity. This game seems to be geared towards the opposite: get depressed kids to commit suicide. All this to film them and post those deaths which would be banned anyways. I’m not sure where the craftiness of the plot catches up.

Not recommended. There’s no cleverness or unseen angle at which we’re seeing anything but people who want to kill themselves and people who encourage them. It’s a by the numbers thriller and very little things to guess. As with every movie, parents and police don’t believe a word by teenagers and the murderers get away because the circumstances are always in their favour. It just didn’t catch my interest at all.

That will do for now.