Prisoners (2013)

• Year: 2013
• Released: 20 Sep 2013
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 10 wins & 38 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392214/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Prisoners
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/prisoners
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
• Runtime: 153 min
• Writer: Aaron Guzikowski
• Director: Denis Villeneuve
• Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis
• Keywords: revenge, kidnapping, detective, neo-noir, investigation,

	8.1/10
	70/100

Prisoners Storyline

In a town in northeastern Pennsylvania, Keller and Grace Dover, Franklin and Nancy Birch, and their respective offspring – each couple with a teenager and adolescent apiece – are best friends. While the two families are celebrating Thanksgiving together, the two adolescent girls, Anna Dover and Joy Birch, go missing. Based on events earlier in the day, the two families believe that the girls were abducted by whoever lives in the camper van parked in their neighborhood. Their beliefs are strengthened after they meet the resident of the camper, Alex Jones, a mentally childlike young man who is supported in every respect by his overprotective aunt, Holly Jones, and based on other subsequent evidence about Alex that emerges. However, Detective Loki, the lead police investigator, is pretty certain that Alex did not abduct the girls, he instead initially following leads of known sex offenders and pedophiles in the area. In addition, Loki has no evidence to hold Alex in custody, placing him at odds especially with Keller, who is certain that Alex is the one who abducted the girls. While Loki continues his investigation with Keller accusing him of not doing his job by following what he considers are pointless leads, Keller decides he has to take matters into his own hands. He has to decide how much he will involve Grace, Franklin and Nancy in getting Alex to divulge where the girls are by any means possible. His decisions as in who he will involve in getting Alex to talk may depend on how like-minded he believes the other three are, they who may be as devastated as he is, but who may neither be certain that Alex is the perpetrator or go to the same extremes as he to get the information from Alex.

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Prisoners Movie Reviews

“Finish all the mazes and you can go home.”

I didn’t realize until I came to some of the reviews for this movie that it was two and a half hours long. It didn’t seem like that while watching as one gets so engrossed in the story that time manages to fly by pretty quickly.

I thought the plotting for the film was nearly flawless. The one thing I found exception to was when Detective Loki (Jake Gylenhaal) got distracted by the phone call from the department store clerk, he left Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) in the abandoned house and never bothered to return in a timely fashion. He had pretty good instincts about something going on there, so a quicker follow up would have been expected.

Otherwise, I thought the screenplay and director Denis Villeneuve crafted an intricately weaved mystery surrounding the missing girls, with an abduction history going back a quarter of a decade. Those who find Keller’s kidnapping of Alex Jones (Paul Dano) distasteful and his subsequent beating of Alex brutal, I’d have to agree that it was beyond the pale for a movie treatment. The beating part anyway. You could understand the man’s frustration, but having no success in getting any information, he should have backed off long before he did.

But even that part of it was handled well. Loki conceded to Grace Dover (Maria Bello) that her husband would probably go to jail, so there was no getting around the idea that Keller would get away with what he did. For his part, Gyllenhaal displayed another nuanced character in Detective Loki, just about a hundred eighty degree turn from his depiction of news gatherer Lou Bloom in “Nightcrawler”. There were times he showed remarkable restraint dealing with Keller, making me think about the way cops in real life situations have to hold back on their emotions when dealing with distraught victims of a crime. He and the rest of the supporting cast put in very credible performances.

Hard to Watch but Really Well Done

Two very good actors ply their trade very well. Jake Gyllanhaal plays a policeman who is utterly driven in his quest to find two kidnapped little girls. Hugh Jackman plays a survivalist who “prays for the best but expects the worst.” During Thanksgiving dinner, two little girls go up to a rusty old RV and shortly thereafter, disappear. The prime suspect is a mentally handicapped young man, the driver of the RV. But the girls are nowhere to be found. He is held for 48 hours and then released. It is then that Jackman takes matters into his own hands. He kidnaps the young man and, convinced he knows everything, tortures him and beats him for days. Meanwhile, another suspect arises but Jackman can’t handle this and keeps pounding away. There are numerous twists and turns that seem to work well. Gyllanhaal is a troubled guy himself who has some anger issues that he keeps under wraps. I had not heard of this film and it was a treat to view it.

Excellent but not for all audiences

A few words of warning about “Prisoners” before you try watching it. It’s a very intense, violent and disturbing movie to say the least. While it is ranked #190 on IMBD’s Top 250, it’s NOT a film for everyone. . I mention this just to warn you…to think about this before you watch.

As for me, while this isn’t the sort of film I normally would watch, it’s one I decided to see because it stars Jake Gyllenhaal. He’s an actor who takes lots of risks and has appeared in many unique films which I enjoyed, such as “Source Code”, “Nightcrawler”, and “Donnie Darko”. In fact, I cannot think of any conventional movies he’s made…and you know you’re in for a few surprises when you see his films…and this definitely is no exception.

The story begins with two families having a dinner party. However, partway through the evening, the parents notice that the two youngest kids are gone. Where could they be?! The search the neighborhood but find no trace. The only clue is a tenuous one…a beat up RV was seen parked nearby.

The police soon locate the RV and the driver. Instead of exiting the vehicle when the police order him out, he tries to run and is soon apprehended. It seems very likely the guy knows SOMETHING but since there’s no real evidence, the police are forced to let him go. Unfortunately, the father of one of the abducted girls (Hugh Jackman) isn’t going to let this go….and he abducts the man and keeps him prisoner…trying to get information from him. This portion is not for the squeamish.

In the meantime, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) has found leads on two other suspects. One is a priest with a corpse in his basement. Another is a freak who likes to buy childrens’ clothing and who was first noticed at a vigil for the girls. He won’t talk but keeps drawing mazes for the police….mazes that look like the necklace found on the corpse…and mazes which were mentioned by the man in captivity to his captor! All three are obsessed with mazes…so what has this to do with the missing girls?!

The best thing about this film is that the screenplay is impossible to predict. If anyone tells you they could predict it, they’re lying! Seriously! I appreciate a film that keeps me guessing and this one sure did. As for the acting, with Jackman and Gyllenhaal it’s of course excellent. Overall, an amazing film…and an amazingly hard one to watch as well. It’s certainly NOT for the squeamish!