Review: Prisoners

Review:  Prisoners

The thing that makes movies so compelling, the thing that draws us all in and grabs ahold are the emotions evoked from watching them.  Very few movies can both make you want to walk out of the theater and yet, not allow you to look away.   I’m not talking about a torture porn movie, for those people that get those two competing sentiments.  It’s the emotion of a movie that keeps us coming back to a theater.  Whether drawn there by laughter, sadness, fright et al. That first time you realize the images you see on the big screen can evoke actual feelings… it’s like that one good shot in golf that keeps men combing the rough every weekend.  It’s that rush of adrenaline that keeps those skater rogues returning to the same stairway handrails they've been chased off of on numerous occasions.  For those of us that seek out cinematic adventure, there is nothing like it in the world.  Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is a masterful representation of conflicting yet compelling emotional outbursts that both revolt and take firm hold of the audience.

The film, as anyone who saw the trailers knows, mostly focuses on the fathers of two missing girls and their search for both their daughters, and the kidnapper.   Hugh Jackman plays the distressed father role very well and even gets in touch with his dark side when he nabs the initial suspect after his release from custody.  Terrence Howard’s role was muted for me, we all know he can show emotion and has a trained broken voice, but it felt to me as though he was overshadowed by other characters in the film.  Jake Gyllenhaal plays lead detective Loki, in what feels like his first role since 2007’s Zodiac.  The Help’s Viola Davis, and “it feels like she’s been in more than she has” Maria Bello play the childrens mothers.  Every role gets outshined, by Jackman and Gyllenhaal’s characters’ grudging, distant relationship.   Gyllenhaal’s never truly shaking the, “something isn’t right with this guy” feeling, and Jackman’s disdain for lack of progress on the part of police.  Mr. Dover (Jackman) takes the law into his own hands and kidnaps the case’s initial suspect in hopes of forcing information out of Paul Dano’s Alex Jones character, who is found to be handicapped.

This movie feels long, so be prepared for that.  Runtime is a shade over two and a half hours, but that uncomfortable feeling of watching some wrongdoing and being unable to stop it will make it feel like much, much longer.  This movie also contains some graphic images, it earns that “R” people, if you’re squeamish, bring someone to hide your eyes and tell you when you can look.  There are some tough themes as well, torture, violence, psychotic behaviors.  I loved this movie, my wife wasn’t able to watch what felt like a quarter of it.  I give it a solid 4.5/5  See it!