All of those horror movies think they know how to shock and scare you, but they have got nothing on Hugh Jackman’s new movie, Prisoners.
As families across the country are celebrating Thanksgiving, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), Grace Dover (Maria Bello), Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard), Nancy Birch (Viola Davis) and their families are about to experience an unthinkable horror.
Their two little 6-year old daughters, Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) and Joy (Kyla Drew Simmons), have gone missing after taking a very short walk from one house to the others on this quiet, Northeast Pennsylvania street.
Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the young detective, with a nervous eye tick and visible tattoos that leads you to believe there is a bad past behind him. He catches the case, but this one is turning out to be more difficult than any of us could ever imagine.
The prime suspect, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), doesn’t have any evidence linking him to the crime, and, when the accused man is released, Keller decides to take matters into his own hands (Wolverine-style!).
You think you know where this is all going? You think you got it figured out? Believe me, you have no idea, and just when you think Prisoners is about to end, it gets better.
Director Denis Villenueve and writer Aaron Guzikowski enrapture the audience with a quietly intense movie that’s part morality tale, part criminal procedural, part character exploration and almost 100 percent awesome. (Howard could step up his game a bit, and Davis deserves more to do here.)
It’s a gut-wrenching situation (with some shocking visuals) that frightens anyone in the audience, whether you have kids or not, but when Villenueve and Guzikowski start taking us down that twisty turny road of a plot, you are going to be amazed at every revelation, and be shocked you have no idea what is happening next.
Sure, the studio is playing up the whole morality aspect of Prisoners, which gives Jackman his moments to frighten us with his rage and brutality. It wants to make us question, would you be willing to do the unthinkable to find your missing daughter? Would you be willing to disregard the law to protect your family?
The entire movie is designed to have you and everyone you see it with debating the conundrum as you drive home or grab a bite to eat after the show. But, Prisoners is best when it is a mystery. Alex doesn’t have any evidence linking him to the crime, but Guzikowski gives us plenty of reason to wonder if he was involved and the cops are screwing up.
As Detective Loki discovers the town’s ugly hidden history, we have to wonder if it will link to this case. And, do we have another suspect? I challenge you to dig through the clues and occurrences to figure what has happened, but I don’t think you will.
Prisoners topped the US box office over the past weekend, and it’s refreshing to see a film geared towards adults proving to be a success. Director Villeneuve favors well-drawn characters and robust storytelling over stereotypes and hollow spectacle; his film resonates long after the end credits roll. They don’t make many like this anymore.
