Disturbing, dark, and too long at 2.5 hours, Prisoners is nevertheless a
compelling film with standout performances. The basics: on Thanksgiving, two young girls go missing and, while a detective searches, the father of one of the girls takes the law into his own hands.
Hugh Jackman's theatre
background shows in the preparation and depth he brings to his role as
the survivalist father who swears he will get his daughter back. As Jackman rages, Jake Gyllenhaal quietly
counterpoints as the detective assigned to the case and Paul Dano fits
perfectly between them, his enormous sad
eyes and pale, offbeat features making him every parents' nightmare of
stranger-danger come to life. In fact, I found Dano the most fascinating
of the characters to watch. He's so affective an actor that he can
compel our fury in one scene and beg for sympathy in another...all
without words...and then darn near disappear while still on screen.
Director Denis Villeneuve uses weather elements and tight shots to
create a cold, claustrophobic atmosphere that gives Prisoners a horror
film feel right through the chilling climax and ending.
There's not much fat to the plot but the brain can only comprehend what the butt can endure and two-and-a-half hours spent in a theatre seat was thirty minutes too long for mine. For that, and for the writers who gave in to the trite idea of detective-as-lone-wolf (any fan of Cops or Castle knows you never go by yourself to search an abandoned building or creepy church basement), I award Prisoners 4/5 stars with a special
thumbs up to Melissa Leo(Homicide: Life on the Street) and Len Cariou (Blue Bloods), two of my favorite, and often
overlooked, character actors.
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