Prisoners revolves around two families the Dover's and Birch's, whose youngest children are kidnapped after a normal thanksgiving dinner. With Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the case and producing little results, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) takes things into his own hands. Capturing a possible suspect named Alex Jones (Paul Dano) whose mind is at the same level as a 10 year old, and torturing him for information. From there the film turns into a character study about how far someone will go to find their children.
The most compelling part of this thriller is the dynamics of both Keller and Franklin (Terrence Howard) and how they handle the loss of their children. Keller clearly the more aggressive of the two uses his rage and determination to manipulate Franklin into doing things that are inhuman. Though Franklin does comply in these situations it affects him, causing him to spend the majority of the film in a depressed state. That is not to say that everyone else is doing well, everyone is in a gloomy state but Howard projected it masterfully. Every member of the cast gave strong performances but for me Howard and Gyllenhaal stood out. Unfortunately, after the first hour Howard disappears for the next hour of the film, due to the films intent on focusing it's run time on Loki and Kellen Dover. Jackman and Gyllenhaal carry the film with ease even with the eye twitching of detective Loki can throw you off for a while. I was very against it, until I realized it was something his character did when stressed or nervous. The acting clearly was the strong point of the film, and was worth the price of admission.
The story is very gut wrenching and it should stick with you well after the movie is over. Especially if you are a parent, the thought of this happening to a child of your own may make the film hard to watch. I do not have a child, but I do realize how emotionally invested parents can get in a kidnapping film. I was also extremely impressed with the tastefulness of the torturing of Alex White. I was expecting it to get very bloody like a horror film and it wasn't. Besides a few punches the rest of the torture happened off screen only allowing us to imagine what is happening via Alex's screams. The film is undeniable long, at 2 hours and 26 min and it feels every bit of that. It never retracted me from the movie but it will hurt its rewatch value. The last hour of the film is filled with jarring twist and turns that I felt tied together very well. I could see how the suspension of belief may be to much to ask for a some people, especially when the first hour and a half is so plausible. I won't argue that the last half hour is chalked full of twist that weren't exactly necessary, but it had me trying to piece everything together only to fail. I think the majority of people won't be able to predict every aspect of the story until it happens. Another complaint amongst the group I was with was the sudden ending of the film. I was very pleased with it cause i felt the director didn't need to spend an hour telling me what was obvious. At first it was rather jarring but in the end another 30 minutes of run time would have hurt the film.
I have said a lot about this film and hopefully it persuaded you to see it. I had a really good time watching the movie even when the material is anything but a good time. It may not have spent enough time on some things they glanced over in particular the end results, but Prisoners is an engaging and well acted thrill ride. Is it an Oscar Contender? I really doubt it, if anything Jake Gyllenhaal or Terrence Howard may pull out a nomination but there are so many performances left to be seen. Even if it doesn't get any Oscars you won't be disappointed at the end result of Prisoners.
Verdict: 4 out of 5
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