Prisoners

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
  Prisoners
Released 9/20/13, now in theaters

Director, Denis Villeneuve, brings the crime thriller, Prisoners, to the big screen this weekend.  If star power is an indication of success, Prisoners should be the best movie of the year starring the likes of Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano.  But alas, a great cast doesn't necessarily make a great movie.  If fact, the results can be downright dreadful (hello, Seven Psychopaths).  Prisoners is a very good, but not great thriller.

Meet Keller Dover (Jackman), a religious, somewhat humorless man with a wife and two children who owns a carpentry business.  On a fateful Thanksgiving with their neighbor friends, the Birches (Howard and Davis), both families' youngest daughters disappear without a trace.  The only lead is an old RV mysteriously parked in the neighborhood earlier that day that both children were playing around. 

Enter Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal), a loner police detective who heads the case to locate the missing girls.  He finds the RV and driver, Alex Jones (Dano).  He arrests Alex when he panics and attempts to flee.  So, the girls are found, the case is closed, and the movie ends.   Aaahhh, if it were only that easy.

Two problems arise from Alex's arrest. One, he has the IQ of a 10-year old and rarely speaks.  Two, there is no forensic evidence that the girls were forced in the RV.  After determining that Alex doesn't have the intelligence to pull off a crime of this nature, the police are forced to let him go after 48 hours, much to the dismay of the Dovers and Birches.  Keller takes the news particularly hard and confronts Alex at the police station upon his release.  He's more crazed when Alex whispers a cryptic message to him indicating he does indeed know something about the girls' disappearance.  He's never more sure that Alex has hidden the girls after witnessing a display between Alex and his aunt's dog while spying on him.  So, what is a distraught father to do?  If you're Keller Dover, you kidnap the suspect and torture the information out of him (putting your carpentry skills to good use).  Unfortunately for Keller, while Alex might be very strange, he's not faking that low IQ.  And while Keller desperately tries to unravel the mystery, the clock is ticking on the girls' survival if they are still alive.

Prisoners presents many feints and misdirections like most decent thrillers will.  It's a little overlong at around two and half hours, and it doesn't always maintain the suspense.  Seriously, I had my fill of scenes featuring Keller's wife being overly medicated to cope with the situation.  The big reveal also left me a little flat.  I think part of the reason for this is due to reading some early reviews comparing some the suspense and twists to Se7en.  And to that I say, no way!  Se7en left me stunned at the end.  Prisoners left me mildly intrigued as to Keller Dover's ultimate fate, but that's about it.  Honestly, after the reveal, the film became a little hokey and clichéd for me.

The best of Prisoners presents fascinating moral dilemma, and if you've read any of my other reviews, you know how I love these conundrums.  It forces you to ask the question, "How far would you go?"  Keller does some absolutely reprehensible things to Alex to coax information out of him.  Keller's not a bad person.  He's desperate.  But again, Alex has the mentality of a child and doesn't completely understand what's happening.  So, how far would you go to save a loved one?  How much blood would you spill?

Hugh Jackman gives a good performance portraying grief mixed with seething anger.  He does a little scenery chewing, but it fits his character.  I didn't mind.  The standout performer for me is Gyllenhaal as the somewhat disconnected Detective Loki.  It's a very subtle performance amongst all the grief and posturing from the rest of the cast.  You see his frustration and disillusionment at times with people and situations, but he usually maintains a calm focus amongst the craziness.  I think it's one of Gyllenhaal's best performances.

Prisoners takes you on a wild ride for awhile, but it doesn't maintain the momentum for the full 146 minutes of air time.  It presents a great moral dilemma but has a mediocre payoff.  It's worth a viewing, but there is no rush.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

*** 1/4 stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.