Prisoners, from French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, is a crime thriller whose focus is on that of Keller Dover (Jackman). When his six-year old daughter and her seven-year old friend go missing on thanksgiving, with a bumped up RV as the only lead, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests the driver (Paul Dano) and begins to investigate. With no evidence on the RV driver Loki has no choice but to let him go, which results in Dover taking the law into his own hands; but how far will he go to find his daughter?
Denis Villeneuve brings us his first English-language film with Prisoners and is the follow-up to his Academy Award nominated film from 2010, Incendies. Prisoners is consistently dark, bringing complex moral dilemmas to the foreground and pushing their boundaries. Villeneuve has created a pulsing and at times nauseating thriller in his US debut which definitely shows a lot of potential for greater things in the future. Villeneuve and writer Aaron Guzikowski create a whodunit of sorts that is open-ended throughout and as such keeps you close to the action and invested in the plot.
Prisoners is filled with some strong performances from a stellar cast that includes, Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano and Terrence Howard. Any scene involving the magnificent Paul Dano was tense and completely gripping with the only real issues regarding the acting appear with the arrival of Gyllenhaal. Portraying a cop who is battling his own demons as well as his case (a cliche that Gyllenhaal does not pull off), his performance is simply unconvincing and is ultimately the worst thing about this film.
This film questions morals, in particular the issue of torture, and contains scenes that some may find extremely difficult to watch. However, I am glad I watched this film and is definitely one of my favourites from 2013.
J.Henderson.
7.5/10
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