Prisoners
When two young girls go missing, the families turn to the police for assistance. Their main suspect is Alex, a mentally challenged young man, who the girls were playing near his camper van earlier that day.
As the days pass, and the maximum time allowed to hold him ends, the father of one of the girls takes matters into his own hands – kidnapping Alex in order to get his daughters whereabouts revealed.
Direction
Directed by the brilliant Denis Villeneuve, this is my favourite film of his so far (and there are still plenty to watch).
The colour paletes he uses are close to real life, but with slight changes in the colour grading to make the film look more grim and depressing. This along with the somewhat aged sets, and grey clothing add to the unease that the characters are going through.
Cast/Characters
Stacked cast of simply brilliant acting;
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki, who is the primary police officer investigating the case. This is by far one of his best performances (second only to Nightcrawler).
Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello play Keller and Grace Dover, the parents of Anna. Keller, is a doomsday prepper.
While I think Jackman did an amazing job here, you unfortunately can tell that the native Australian Jackman is not native American and his accent sounds foreign.
Bello gives a wonderful, but underused performance. especially in some of the more emotionally heavier scenes, when her character is breaking down following her daughters disappearance.
Terrence Howard and Viola Davis play Franklin and Nancy Birch, the parents of Joy. Howard is fine, however he stands to the sidelines of his male co-stars. Davis gets more to do, and even though I have talked down on her “seriousness” trademark roles, I feel she pulled this off. If anything, she should have been utilised more.
Paul Dano is superb as always as Alex, who spends the majority of the film held hostage by Keller. He excels in roles like this, where his character is either disturbed (The Batman) or muted (Little Miss Sunshine).
Melissa Leo plays Alex’s long time carer and Aunt Holly. Not long after her Oscar win for The Fighter, she is almost completely unrecognisable. She has a large arc in the back end of the film.
Other secondary cast member who play important characters are David Dastmalchian as Bob Taylor, another suspect,
Breakdown
There is very little action within the film, aside for a minor gun shootout in the final act. It is more about the characters and narrative of these people, and just how far people will go in intense situations. The screenplay, and what occurs on screen is brutal, and hard to watch at times.
Following the girls kidnapping/going missing – the way the police respond to the ‘amber alert’ is brilliantly displayed. The way the town comes together, and takes it seriously, without doubt is done very well.
Keller then does what any father in his situation wishes he ‘could’ do…
Alex, is kidnapped by Keller, and becomes one of the the most heartbreaking characters in cinema history as he is brutally beaten to an inch of his life. Most of these beatings occur off screen, but the aftermath is visceral and shocking.
Keller’s ‘doomsday’ prepper, and ‘real American’ is only really briefly hinted, and discussed. If I could fault the film in anyway I would have like to see more of this.
Loki is also a brilliantly observant police officer; managing to discover something is off with Keller while following him to the liquor store, and their car conversation, and then the connection of Bob Taylor to come to the conclusion of who the real kidnapper was.
The final arc, which reveals ** spoiler but its been 13 years ** that it was Aunt Holly who kidnapped the girls,.and following Keller’s own discovery of it, she puts him in a hole in the ground at gunpoint – before being taken out by Loki.
It is also revealed that ** spoiler ** Alex was a kidnap victim himself, and his ‘Aunt’ who is revealed to be the kidnapper, kidnapped him too!
The ending which is ‘open ended’ sees Keller potentially either going to be rescued by Loki, or staying in the hole. I like to think he’ll be found (however he still needs to be held accountable for what he does to Alex).
Even at 150m, this does not feel overlong at all, and could have even had an extra 20-30 m thrown on and would have been as passable as it was. It never outstays its welcome.
Score/Soundtrack
Wonderful score from the late Jóhann Jóhannsson. It adds to the intensity of the narrative we witness as an audience.
Overall
How was this only nominated for cinematography?
What an amazing film, with such brilliant performances from all involved. Wonderful direction from Villeneuve, with a great mystery narrative and gotcha ending.
A very strong recommend.
4.5/5
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