Review of Prisoners (2013) by Deena Sharon C — 04 Jan 2015

Interesting movie, albeit with extremely dark overtones. There is a constant abandonment of certainty in the sense that the perpetrator of the kidnapping is completely elusive. Furthermore, Keller Dover pinpoints the alleged kidnapper and insists that the police take him into custody until the police obtain information from him. When the police let the alleged kidnapper go, Alex loses his cool and takes matters into his own hands. From this point on, we see how quickly the tables can turn and how the kidnapping of a child can fuel desperate and violent actions to the alleged kidnapper who becomes a prisoner at the hands of Keller Dover.

Keller Dover and Detective Loki's actions fuel much of the movie. Keller Dover is determined to find out the truth behind the kidnapping for himself, while Detective Loki follows a more rational and strategic approach to identifying the potential kidnapper. Detective Loki has his fair share of looking out for potential suspects and eventually finds Bob Taylor who is acting suspiciously at a candlelight vigil, and who runs away when seen. Although Bob Taylor is not critical to the plot, there could have been a better explanation of his story and the significance of the snakes and mazes to him than what we are given. Much of what is revealed about his life is determined posthumously, and we are left without the immediate and possibly intense story of the character to provide us with more background about what could be happening with the two little girls.

Keller Dover continues to torture Alex Jones, not realizing that he has the wrong victim and is torturing Alex without reason. There are many clues that are pieced together to reveal the actual kidnapper and when these come together, the story becomes more interesting.

Still, there is some information missing from the plot that I am curious about, and the movie did not succeed in filling in these gaps. What is the significance of the mazes? Do the mazes refer to a physical or psychological concept? There are a number of other plot gaps that could be better explained by the movie.