Prisoners (2013) - Film Review

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhal, Maria Bello, Paul Dano, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis

Rating: Rated R for disturbing violent content including torture, and language throughout

When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?

Initial Reaction:

Ever since the initial trailer for "Prisoners",  I have been definitely anticipating this film. The film featured an interesting premise about kidnapping and torture and featured a great cast headlined by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhal. Among from the first trailer for "Prisoners" I did not know to much about the movie as I try to stay away from movie trailers more these days as they tend to spoil the movie. The only other thing I heard about this movie is that after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last week that it got rave reviews where some people were saying that this film could appear again around Oscar season.  With all of that riding on this movie I can definitely say that this film delivers in every way. The acting, the plot, the directing all of combines so well together to create a tense 2 and a half hour film. 

Plot: (4.75/5)

Kidnapping is not a concept unfamiliar to films as it seems that most time Hollywood films that involve kidnapping go the "Taken" route turning them into big blockbuster films but what I appreciated what "Prisoners" did was make it more personal and show just what something like the abduction of a child can do to a family.  The film starts with a quick 10 minute or so introduction of the characters showing us their lives before the kidnapping and how they are real people with real world problems such as finances, and that's important to establish because when the movie begins to escalate bigger and bigger it all still feels natural and that these are the people we still saw at the beginning. All the characters are fleshed out as they all get their mini arcs in the movie. Every character in the film felt important in some way to the overall narrative. With a 2 and a half hour run time the film features some subplots and mysteries that play into the overall narrative that worked really well as instead of taking away from the main story they added to it and makes you have to pay attention. I can appreciate when a filmmaker doesn't gives you all the answers and trust you enough on your own to connect the dots. The plot never drags and in a 2 and a half hour movie I was never bored and that's a hard feat in itself to pull off.

Directing: (4.5/5)

The film is directed by Denis Villeneueve, who is making his English language debut after becoming an international award winner in Canada winning many BAFTA wards (Canada's equivalent to the Oscars) with his films such as "Incendies" and "Polyytechnique." The director is on the list of many foreign directors making the cross-over from foreign film to mainstream film and proves that these directors can add a freshness to the film that make them that much better. With film making being a hard film to come into, most directors play it safe to make it into the mainstream but Mark Wahlberg who produces the film believed in Villeneueve to make something different and that is definitely what we got. The film is insanely intense and beautifully shot as you can see how much the setting of this town plays into the bleak and hopelessness of the characters and how much dreary the city gets as things escalate. The film is told in a fast pace motion as a lot of times things don't get a chance to breathe. That is probably my only complaint of the film is sometimes it moved to fast and you feel shortchanged from emotional character moments but that is very small as everything in this film is almost perfect.

Acting: (4.75/5)

Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhal need to begin brushing away some mantle space for their Oscar awards as their is truly something wrong with Hollywood if these two don't walk away with some type of award for their performances. First off with Hugh Jackman, I almost feel dirty for liking his performance as I've never really felt myself cheering for a torturer, but here I was rooting for him and everything his character felt, I felt, and the audience felt as his arc is one of the best arcs of all film this year. He shows the lengths a man would go to for his family and you can't blame him for anything he does. Gyllenhal plays a great foe as he represents the police procedural side of searching for the little girl and their back and forth with eachother felt real as with as much yellow tape cops have to go through it can really be frustrating for an outsider looking in. As his character continues to grow and develop, you begin to care as much for him as you do Hugh Jackman and both did a great job of carrying this movie. All of the supporting cast did as great as job as the leads and no person did a bad job acting. Everyone felt real and legit and definitely makes a film like this even better.

Replay Ability: (4.5/5)

 If you can't tell by now, I really liked "Prisoners." Everything about this film from the writing, directing, and acting was just top notch. I recommend this to everyone to see, with a lot of big releases coming out in the next couple of weeks this film might disappear and that's a shame this film might not end up getting the respect it deserves. 

FINAL GRADE:  4.6/5 (A)