Prisoners (15.)
Directed by Dennis Villeneuve. Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Paul Dano. 153 mins.
Everything about Prisoners is there to show you how serious it is: the heavyweight cast; the bleak rain and sleet swept landscape of a small Georgia town in winter; the sparing use of music, the committed performances and the fact that it is starts with two little girls being abducted during Thanksgiving. Everything, except the plot.
In the hours after they disappear the investigation focuses on a loner weirdo (Dano) whose camper van was spotted near the scene. But after the police have to release him for lack of evidence one of the girls’ fathers (Jackman) decides to take the law into his own hands, convinced that the Detective in charge (Gyllenhaal) is not doing all he can.
Canadian Villeneuve last film, Incendies, was a best foreign language film Oscar nominee, so here he is attempting to keep his arthouse reputation while trying to sidle into Hollywood star-driven movie making. His film though is quite conventional in places: Gyllenhaal is the hero cop who never loses a case and the script, by Aaron Guzikowski, pulls some very neat plot twists which would have had audiences gasping in a more commercially minded thriller but seem rather out of place in these austere settings.
Prisoners is a gripping crime melodrama trapped within the confines of a low level arthouse drama/ high level Oscar pleader. It is a class act and should satisfy those looking for some strong powerful drama but after two and half hours you might find yourself shoulder to shoulder and bursting at the men’s urinals listening to debates on its implausibility.
Directed by Dennis Villeneuve. Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Paul Dano. 153 mins.
Everything about Prisoners is there to show you how serious it is: the heavyweight cast; the bleak rain and sleet swept landscape of a small Georgia town in winter; the sparing use of music, the committed performances and the fact that it is starts with two little girls being abducted during Thanksgiving. Everything, except the plot.
In the hours after they disappear the investigation focuses on a loner weirdo (Dano) whose camper van was spotted near the scene. But after the police have to release him for lack of evidence one of the girls’ fathers (Jackman) decides to take the law into his own hands, convinced that the Detective in charge (Gyllenhaal) is not doing all he can.
Canadian Villeneuve last film, Incendies, was a best foreign language film Oscar nominee, so here he is attempting to keep his arthouse reputation while trying to sidle into Hollywood star-driven movie making. His film though is quite conventional in places: Gyllenhaal is the hero cop who never loses a case and the script, by Aaron Guzikowski, pulls some very neat plot twists which would have had audiences gasping in a more commercially minded thriller but seem rather out of place in these austere settings.
Prisoners is a gripping crime melodrama trapped within the confines of a low level arthouse drama/ high level Oscar pleader. It is a class act and should satisfy those looking for some strong powerful drama but after two and half hours you might find yourself shoulder to shoulder and bursting at the men’s urinals listening to debates on its implausibility.
