Review of Prisoners (2013) by Brandon W — 22 Mar 2016

Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners is a fantastic movie that made me took notice of the director. I know that the film's plot has been done before in other films or TV shows, but it's the execution that makes it stand out which is very effectively done.

Hugh Jackman gives a powerhouse performance and gives it his all that I find him very convincing, and I was surprised that he didn't get nominated for an Academy Award in this. Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic in this and Maria Bello gives an emotional performance that you can see how broken her character was after her child had been kidnapped.

Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis, and Terrence Howard are really good that there is no actor that wasn't bad in this. The script by Aaron Guzikowski is very well-written that it really made the film more complex than to get the audience invested, but not too complex to lose the viewers and get very confused.

The characters are simple, but memorable enough that you really want the main characters to find their daughters, even when they take Paul Dano's character hostage. It really gets tense at times, and the reveal is really good.

Prisoners is a very smart film that got me riveted from beginning to end.