Movies: Prisoners

Score:  **** out of ***** (A-)

Long Story Short:  Prisoners, a film with some big names but relatively little hype, is a thriller with bigger intentions.  Directed by newcomer Denis Villeneuve, the lead actors, Jackman and Gyllenhaal, really make the emotional impact and suspense work beautifully.  Although the film invites your guesses, it leaves the mystery of whodunnit - and whatwillJackmanbecome - a secret up until the very end.  Perhaps too much for parents of young kids to take, but for the rest of you, excellent entertainment.


Well, I guess that was a relatively short "drought" for movie reviews!  With the fall film season right around the corner, there should be still more reviews coming in.  I'm not expecting a fall season as good as 2012's, but hopefully there will be some interesting movies.  Again, in choosing films I tend to balance my interest in the premise and actors with its critical reception.  In choosing Prisoners, that balancing weighed heavily on the critics and the actors involved; I don't usually go for missing persons-type films.  However, Jackman and Gyllenhaal are great, and Jon Stewart seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the film when interviewing Jackman, so I gave it a try.  Prisoners was directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars the aforementioned actors.

Prisoners begins on a gray Thanksgiving day with the Dover family - father Keller (Jackman), mother Grace (Bello), teenaged son Ralph, and young daughter Anna - going to visit fellow nuclear family the Birches.  All seems normal, with Mr. Birch trying to loosen up the more serious Mr. Dover, and the families' kids pairing off to play with their closer-age counterpart.  Several hours pass, and Keller decides to check on his young daughter, but the older kids haven't seen her or the Birch's young daughter.  They quickly check the Dover's home (in the same neighborhood), but they aren't there, either.  The older kids bring the parents to check out an RV that the young kids had seemed interested in earlier, but it's gone, too.

Frantic, the families call the police; the search for the kids and the RV begins, with the RV being found within hours.  The driver is a strange young man, but also mentally handicapped, and he doesn't understand what's going on.  Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) takes the lead on the case, and tries to reassure the families, particularly Keller, that he is doing everything he can - yet there is frustratingly little to go on.  As Loki painstakingly gathers little clues that may or may not go anywhere, Keller decides to pursue the one "lead" that the police have already discounted...

The cast of Prisoners is fantastic, portraying a very realistic set of normal characters thrust into the most stressful of situations.  Hugh Jackman as father of missing daughter Anna is a co-lead, and he plays brilliantly against type here.  Jackman tends to be either the nice guy, or even when rougher around the edges (Wolverine), is intelligently sarcastic.  Keller, however, is a simple, blue-collar family man driven by his emotions.  He is a "good guy" in that he is determined to find his daughter, but Jackman does a great job of only slowing realizing the dramatic consequences of his character's actions.  Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki is the other co-lead (I'd say they're equally prominent), and although he doesn't get the same level of emotional development, the realism of his acting is extremely impressive.  The case evolves from being just another job to a personal quest for him - sounds like a cliche, but Gyllenhaal makes it work like few, if any, others can.  Somewhat sullen, or maybe just reserved, Jake still makes Loki a guy you definitely are rooting for.

Paul Dano plays Alex Jones, the mentally handicapped driver of the RV.  Wow, does this guy give you the chills every time he appears on screen.  It's a fairly small - though crucial - part, and Dano really disappears into it; despite this, Alex is a passive character most important for how the other characters deal with him.  There are some other big names in this film, although none have really big roles; Viola Davis and Terrence Howard play the equally stricken Birch parents who are most intriguing when comparing their reactions to the Dovers'.  Melissa Leo plays Alex's aunt, and Mario Bello is Mrs. Dover - each has a few important scenes.

Prisoners is ostensibly a thriller, as the characters - and audience - try to solve the crime before it's too late for the victims.  But the film is also a deep, intriguing, and disturbing look at how normal people can respond to life-altering events.  Both of these aspects are given roughly equal attention, working together nicely and keeping the 2.5 hours running time sufficiently varied.  Prisoners is not a horror film, but I felt tense for most of the film, fearing equally either a surprise attack or gruesome discovery at every other turn (the script does a great job of making it come true only often enough to get you to expect it).  At the beginning of the film, a very simple but dark musical undertone heightens this tensions immeasurably (didn't notice it later on, but I may just have missed it).  It is difficult to get any specific sense of direction, either for the personal or thriller aspects of the film, which I think was a great idea - not just because it makes it harder to guess what will happen next, but also because that's just how life works.  If by now you're thinking, boy, this sounds a little too grim for me, fear not:  it has a (reasonably) happy, or at least satisfying, ending.

***

Prisoners is a great film, although it falls short of a straight-up "A" for me.  As I said, it works very nicely to have both thriller and personal/emotional elements to this film.  However, the two kind of go their separate ways as the film progresses, and so when it switches between the two, it's not as smooth a transition as it could be; you're thinking, OK, now what's happening with Keller/Loki now?  Also, while I think the ending is good in several ways, it's also a little anticlimactic and ultimately the explanation for the whole crime is maybe a little too neat and not a perfect fit for the rest of the film.  Still, I'm basically nitpicking:  although the two films are very different, Prisoners shares The Butler's gift of great performances.  You just can't wait to see what Keller/Jackman and Loki/Gyllenhaal do next.  The suspense is phenomenal, and, while I'd been prepared to witness extensive scenes of brutality, they really show just enough to give you the impression you need and then focus on the mental and emotional aspects again.  Final verdict:  if you do have small children right now, you may want to hold off on this for the moment (or risk nightmares).  Otherwise, highly recommended.