From the twist and turns of dark and intricate mazes comes Prisoners (2013), a gripping
thriller-drama film, directed by Denis Villeneuve. The film focuses around
Keller Dover, (portrayed by Hugh Jackman) whose daughter, Anna, disappears
along with the Birches daughter, Joy Birch, while retrieving a safety whistle
from her house. This spurs Dover into enlisting the help of the father,
Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard) to help find their daughters. Meanwhile,
Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is brought in to help recover the girls and
thus begins the hunt to find the two girls who have just vanished.
The film benefits from moving performances from Gyllenhaal
and Jackman, as the latter delivers a raw and gritty performance as a father
who has lost his daughter and has to delve into murky waters in order to, in
his mind, get her back. A potently powerful performance indeed; Jackman’s
character Keller reminds us of the possible lengths we would go to get back someone
we loved, and at what cost. Gyllenhaal, also, excels in his role as the
Detective, and puts in a memorable and haunting performance that will not soon
be forgotten by many. This coupled with a beautifully chilling and tense score
from Jóhann Jóhannsson singles out Prisoners as one to watch in the
upcoming awards season.
The film is affected, in a way, by its relatively basic
storyline and unfortunately, if you have seen a lot of similar types of films,
you may have guessed the ending before the film reaches its climax. This,
however, does not detract away from the efforts of the director, to create a
sense of pacing and to try and hold certain details back and not reveal them
until the very end. He succeeds in creating a film which could give itself away
very easily if put in the hands of any director, and although somewhat
predictable, it will not take away the thrill for a vast majority of viewers.
Prisoners is a
film focused around loss and questions what people will do when faced with a
crisis and holds strong religious undertones that contribute to the eerie and
disturbing nature of the piece. The film has enough intensity to command
attention from most audiences; the acting is sublime and the script
well-written, despite the fairly generic storyline. Prisoners proves itself to be a substantial thriller enriched with
striking messages and performances along with strong subject matter that will
satisfy audiences with a taste for the thrilling and dramatic.
http://issuu.com/concreteuea/docs/venue_286/19?e=5493954/5123535
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