‘The Whip’ Review
Stars: Meg Fozzard, Shian Denovan, Tom Knight, Ray Bullock Jr., Gala Wesson, Daniel Davids | Written by Christopher Presswell, Forgács W. András | Directed by Christopher Presswell
The Whip opens with Emily (Meg Fozzard), who suffers from a brain injury, and her sister Sadie (Shian Denovan; Cat Sick Blues, All Roads Lead to Home) who cares for her full time, suffering through a benefits interview. And I do mean suffering as the interviewer, somewhere between disinterested and outright hostile, gets Emily’s name wrong and asks if she has mobility issues as she sits there in her wheelchair. Despite a host of issues stemming from her injury, including short-term memory issues, shaky balance confining her to a wheelchair, and hands that shake, she’s deemed fit for work. A forgone conclusion given the government’s “Putting Ability Back into Disability” slogan for revamping the National Health Service.
Elsewhere, Michael Harrington (Tom Knight; Paddington 2, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding) is trying to sell these new policies to voters, and they are not buying it. And, as we see after they’ve left, neither does he. And that does not sit well with Damian Wilson (Ray Bullock Jr.; All the Devil’s Men, Lords of London) the whip for his party.
While director Christopher Presswell (Candlestick, Forget Paris) and co-writer Forgács W. András (Patthelyzet, Hacktion) never name the party behind these policies, anyone familiar with British politics will recognize them as the Conservatives. As such, The Whip probably would have benefited from being released before the recent elections that ended their fourteen years in power.
Be that as it may, The Whip becomes a politically charged heist comedy as Sadie, determined to protect her sister, hatches a desperate scheme to prevent the ‘Independence Credit’ plan from becoming law. That involves stealing Wilson’s book full of blackmail material and bringing the government down. To that end, she recruits her college friend Abi (Gala Wesson; An Assassin Walks Through the Trees, Anna Karenina), Abi’s nephew Jason (Daniel Davids; Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Sunray: Fallen Soldier) and, eventually, Harrington becomes their man on the inside.
With a budget that makes it more like Thames Four than Ocean’s Eleven, The Whip has to rely on wit and ingenuity to impress the viewers rather than flash and fancy stunts. And there are some inventive moments as these amateurs lay their plans to steal something from one of the most secure places in the country, and deal with the inevitable complications when they put their plan into action.
For those not familiar with the British Parliamentary system, there is a brief animated segment that, along with a couple of other discussions, will tell viewers enough to be able to understand what’s going on. And while, as I’ve said, it’s obvious which party is primarily being targeted, The Whip isn’t really a propaganda piece either. Most of the focus is on the heist, not on partisan comments, and many of the comments we do hear feel aimed at politicians in general.
On the downside, some of those comments feel a bit too on the nose and more like talking points from a blog article or social media post than things people would say in conversation. And, considering she’s the catalyst for everything, Emily is barely in the film, which seems a bit off all things considered.
Overall, though, The Whip is a fun, lightweight caper film with an underlying social message and a particularly satisfying finale, and mid-credit epilogue. It should make a good watch on a weekend afternoon.
*** 3/5
The Whip is out in the UK now.
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