Review of Prisoners (2013) by Dillinger P — 16 Jan 2015

As any parent, imagine your worst nightmare, imagine your child had been kidnapped from you in broad day light, with very little idea of who done it and a growing fear of as time goes by what you may find.

Prisoners takes this idea and turns it into something totally raw, powerful and at some points extremely intense to watch. On thanksgiving day the Keller and Birch family unite to celebrate the festivities, in a small little town, in a small little street.

With all the excitement going on, both families daughters, who are no older than 8, ask if its okay to head back to the Dover household, a 2 minute walk, to pick up a toy. After some ground rules are made off the children go and that is where it all goes horribly wrong.

With nothing more to go on, than a dodgy looking RV parked on the street, the families turn frantic and soon enlist the help of Detective Loki, a left field cop, who has aced every assignment given to him.

Soon suspects begin to come out the woodwork, leaving both families to do what they think is right for the good of their children. Looking at this cast, its hard to imagine the package you may receive here, not that they are bad, but there are some huge names in here, leaving you wondering how far the film will take it.

All i'll say is do not worry, every single actor, minus a few stereotypically written lines or situations knock the entire piece into the stratosphere. Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard and Viola Davis are all on top form as the parents, the dynamic between them all is phenominal, ranging from Maria Bello's completely torn apart and useless wife to Hugh Jackman's fiery anger.

Everyone here is really on fire. Loki is played outstandingly by Jake Gyllenhall, his mix of intensity and profesionalism, with added mannerisms, are a joy to watch. His performance is best served when dealing with Hugh Jackman or his captain, who wont stop riding his ass.

Paul Dano and Melissa Leo put in a thunderous, performance as the main suspect and his aunt. Both of them go to such lengths to look and sound so different from their usual, your actually pleasantly surprised by the time you work out, who it is your actually watching add to this mix of powerhouse performances.

Add to this some extremely creepy cinematography, harking back to John Carpenters Halloween, with slow tracking wide shots, that make everything seem voyouristic or long one takes, in particular a torture scene which literally looks like it was nailed in 1 take and your onto a winner.

The entire town feels dank and winteresque, giving you this feeling of dread and hopelessness. The lighting is creepy and emotional and the grade on this thing is dulled down, to make it look less big budget and more real life.

So whats wrong with the film? Well a couple of things, first off there are some pacing and editing issues. The film is over 2 and a half hours long, which is fine, but at points you literally feel like your backtracking in order to show how torturous this all is, half an hour could have easily been shaved off this and it would have been all the better for it.

Also the film likes to fade to black just before major points of relieve happen, yet again, I get why this is done, at some points it works astoundingly well. But at points in treads on giving you no relieve what so ever, that you really aren't sure what the bigger picture is trying to be.

Also the film spends a stupid amount of time of a drawing of a puzzle, only for it to turn into something so stupid and throwaway, had they actually done something intelligent with this, id have gladly sat an extra half hour I just wanted shaved off watching them add another thick layer onto the piece.

finally the ending, I will not spoil it but its so off kilter that your left kind of buzzing about like a dying bee in the wind. Very little exposition is given to the final 15 minutes and because of this, you just feel like it was a ploy to turn one final twist on the audience.

Other than that, this film is a thrilling and emotional, pitch black piece. I highly reccomend it.