Mikes Film Talk

The 2024 political thriller The Whip is a sort of Ocean’s 4 or more accurately, Ocean’s Anarchy. A small group of protagonists go after the Chief Whip of the current party.

Their aim?

To bring the entire rotted system down. In other words, anarchy. Destruction of a system that breeds corruption and ineptitude like a flowerbed of full of invasive wild daisies.

The hand wielding the whip

Director and co-writer Christopher Presswell pens this one with Forgács W. András. The two writers have worked together before and their ease at working together shows. Presenting a story that feels all too real, based, no doubt, on a dollop of reality. The government in the United Kingdom does have a history of persecuting that portion of the population most in need of help.

Regardless of what party is “in charge.”

Presswell has put his players through their paces with an admirable adroitness. This is not too surprising as he has, counting The Whip, eight productions under his belt. I look forward to seeing his next offering.

The Story

Sadie is full time carer for her disabled sister Meg. Purse strings are tight. The ruling party have decided to cut things back to “save a pittance” and the two face some challenging times ahead.

Sadie decides to protest in her own way and recruits a few friends to take down the government. They intend to steal the book of “dirty secrets” that the Chief Whip uses to keep the party members in line.

With a former minister and a superb hacker on the team, the heist is on.

The Main Cast

Shian Denovan is Sadie Baxter. Full time carer turned anarchist. She starts the ball rolling on this Ocean’s 4 plot.

Gala Wesson is Sadie’s mate and co-conspirator. Her job is to be the public face of their heist. All wide eyes and high cheekbones Abi Munroe dedicates herself to the cause.

Tom Knight is front bencher Michael Harrington. A career politician who refuses to follow party line and is moved to the back benches as a result. It is the little black book that makes the move “back” possible.

Daniel Davids is Jason Grant. He is the hacker who discovers and manipulates the flaw in the government’s security system.

Meg Fozzard is Sadie’s sister Emily. A woman who lives with many obstacles to “normal” living. She is deemed “fit for work” and this starts The Whip on it’s heist journey.

Ray Bullock Jnr is Damian Wilson: Chief Whip. A suitably nasty bit of work that we dislike on sight.

Ocean’s 11 It Aint, But

So The Whip may not be Ocean’s 11 or even Tower Heist, Ben Stiller’s version of the subtitled film, but it works.

Brilliantly.

For starters the film feels like a heist film. the quick pacing, the clever edits and the dialogue all feel like an English political version of an orchestrated heist film. All that is missing are the rat pack from the original or Clooney and Pitt in the remake.

Or even Ben Stiller and his gang of thieves.

However varied it may be from the American originals the very Englishness of the thing works in its favour. *That being said; having an idea of how the politics work across the pond helps. English Politics 101: Leaders are chosen by the party after they, the party, win. Think of Republicans or Democrats telling America who the next president is going to be after they have won the election.*

One thing that helps to sell this one is its basis in some reality. The English government do come up with asinine sayings like, “Putting the ability back into disability.” A not so clever way of reducing benefit to those who need it.

One bone of contention

The safe, as pictured above with the Chief Whip, never truly looks locked. Each and every time someone comes in contact with it, the door looks loose. The same thing occurs with the “practise” safe that Sadie tries to “crack. *Clearly this is the same safe, budgets hurt, but the lack of conviction, i.e. that loose door, hurts the integrity of the prop.*

Kudos

All the performers bring their “A” “game to the film. Knight is subtibly convincing as the hard working front bencher. Denovan and Bullock are spot on in their respective roles and Wesson is quietly delightful as the idealist.

Extra kudos to Claire De Boer as Dr Jenkins. She knocks her role out of the proverbial park.

The Verdict

The Whip earns a solid 5 out of 5 stars for effort alone. *Sure there is that shaky door on the safe, but that does not ruin one thing about the film. * The Whip is just finishing its limited UK run. It will be “on demand” in the latter half of October 2024. Catch this one if you can. It entertains and educates, if you’re from America.

This one just goes to show why British Cinema almost effortlessly rules the pack when it comes to film.

The Trailer