Review of Prisoners (2013) by Sgt. C — 17 Nov 2014

(73%).

Without too much doubt this is one of the better films of the year, with its fantastically solid direction, Oscar worthy performances, a great script/plot that keeps you guessing until the end, but my god is it a hard film to sit through at times. It really is the most bleak and joyless productions since 2009's "The road" and I have rarely ever seen anything as good and yet wanted it to be over quite as much as this trip into a very real (yet still a little Hollywood) hell. The roads this goes down are the stuff of actual nightmares, and when that is combined with the very grim, cold setting it makes for an increasingly oppressive feel. This is good enough to come highly recommended, and it it one of the best modern mystery movies I've ever seen, but be aware of the unrelenting ill mood that is so well done that it's almost a trial to sit through.