Review #749: 'Prisoners' (2013)

For all those concerned that Denis Villeneuve, director of art-house pieces Polytechnique (2009) and the Oscar-nominated Incendies (2010), has sold out on his trip to the U.S., then rest assured, Prisoners is a suitably grim, adult and metaphor-laden drama which just happens to be anchored by two Hollywood A-or-there-about-listers. Beginning with an almost unbearably tense opening hour or so, Prisoners soon dissolves into a formulaic thriller, abandoning the near-unbearable tension of the opening hour and packing the film with foot-chases and repetitive torture-porn, finding itself too caught up in tying all the many loose ends together for it all to make sense.

Whilst attending a Thanksgiving dinner, the daughters of Keller (Hugh Jackman) and Grace Dover (Mario Bello), and their neighbours Franklin (Terrence Howard) and Nancy Birch (Viola Davis), go missing. The only clue is a mysterious RV parked outside moments before the abduction, which is quickly found by Detecive Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) in a car park with an apparently stricken Alex Jones (Paul Dano) inside. After Alex is quickly released due to a lack of evidence, Keller is furious and unconvinced, abducting him and taking him to an abandoned former home in order to instigate his own method of interrogation.

Boasting Oscar-nominated cinematography by long-time Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins, this is one of the finest looking mainstream thrillers in years. Drenched in grey, the miserable colour palette drapes the film in a feeling of foreboding dread. It brings to mind the beautiful and superior thriller Zodiac (2007), only without the period setting. It drags - and it does drag - on for 2 and a half hours, and the film is so lacking in humour that any realism the film was striving for suffers. It also stars Hugh Jackman, possibly the most effortlessly likeable actor working today, and watching him bang on the wall shouting "where is my daughter!?" - a line that should have been retired after Taken (2008) - is silly and unconvincing. The film takes itself so seriously that it almost becomes a parody of itself.

Gyllenhaal as Loki, however, is outstanding, and is a character I wish the film focused more on. With neck tattoos, a strange, buttoned-up (with no tie) appearance, slick-back hair, and blinking tic, it hints at a more interesting character than the film fully allows to develop. The film is more interested in not-so-subtle War on Terror parallels and comments on post-9/11 vigilantism, that sadly struggles to keep a hold of it's ever-widening plot and multiple plot strands, over-reaching itself constantly with scenes of stoic uber-seriousness. But it's splendidly filmed, and beautifully performed by Gyllenhaal, Dano and Melissa Leo (playing Alex's mother), which could have done with some heavier editing and less self-importance.


Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie