For a good part of its running time, Prisoners seems as if it could be one of 2013’s best pictures. It has a good premise and a shocking middle.
Alas, the film falls apart a bit at the end, with a finale as stupid as the rest of the film is gripping.
Hugh Jackman delivers a fierce performance as Keller Dover, a survivalist who goes into vigilante mode after his daughter and her friend are kidnapped. When a semi-irritable detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) apprehends a mentally challenged suspect (Paul Dano), Dover and the detective go head-to-head on how to deal with him. When the suspect is set free, Dover captures and tortures him.
These parts of the film are solid, showing the lengths a parent could go to in order to find a missing child. As for the film’s mystery element: That’s where things fall apart. It strains so hard to be clever that it becomes ridiculous by the time credits roll.
Gyllenhaal is quite good here, even when the screenplay lets him down. The same goes for Jackman and his justifiably maniacal turn. He’s a sharp actor, and he makes the goofy ending watchable. Supporting performances from Maria Bello and Terrence Howard are decent.
The movie was shot by cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins, so it looks good. Prisoners is worth seeing for the most part, but it’s a bit of a disappointment.
Special Features: You only get a couple of short behind-the-scenes features.
I have to disagree. It is only a poor ending for those who need everything spelled out. The moral delemmas all the way through set it up for the perfect ending. Loki hears the whistle. He has to rescue him because he has to arrest him even though he carries his own abuse demons.
Everyone in the film is a prisoner of some sort and it actually takes a couple of rematches to get all the references. It is honestly one of the best films of the year and both Jackman and Gyllenhaal deserve nominations