Review: Prisoners

Warner Bros.

At first, I was hesitant about whether or not Prisoners was going to be good or something I wanted to see. The trailers made it clear that the cast is going for Oscar nominations and promised a lot of intense, dark drama. Basically everything that an Oscar-bait movie tries to encompass which generally turns me off. On top of that, you have a topic like child abduction. A topic like that ranks among very few others in film that tend to try and shock and disturb audiences rather than construct a meaningful reason for delving into such a topic in the first place. Movies like Changeling and Gone Baby Gone have done it before, and even though Gone Baby Gone was a wonderfully directed and written film, it still felt unnecessarily heavy and dark. Other topics such as the Holocaust, war, etc, fall into the same category. Exploring these topics can quickly turn into a sort of exploitation and can be an easy way to create buzz around your film and gives actors a chance to show how distraught they can appear on screen. 

But then again, a cast of Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Maria Bello is super solid. Not to mention director Denis Villeneuve proved he could handle some very disturbing/intense content in the Oscar nominated foreign film, Incendies. And then Prisoners started getting positive early buzz from festivals, so I figured I better see it.

Warner Bros.

And I was glad I did. There's no denying that Prisoners hardly ever lets up on the emotional intensity and darkness (not to mention some brief but very disturbing violence/torture), but the writing and directing keep it from going too far down the exploitation route. The style of the editing and cinematography is skillfully reserved to make the actors' performances stand out more than anything else. Cinematographer (and 10 time Oscar nominee) Roger Deakins is largely to thank for this by using framing and angles that all feel very normal, and in true Deakins-fashion all the lighting appears natural but extremely purposeful. Everything looks and feels just a tad bit too normal. As a result, the audience can never get comfortable and attention is drawn to the anguish occurring on screen.

Although I guessed the ending about half-way through the film, the writing is still very good, and even at 2 1/2 hours, the pacing is rock solid and things never get boring. Still, I think Villeneuve gets a little too carried away with elaborate mysteries and tying everything back together too neatly at the end. Without giving anything away, Incendies functions in a very similar way to Prisoners in this respect. However, Incendies better justifies its circularity, twists, and mystery for the sake of creating a sort of analogy. Part of me wishes Prisoners wouldn't have went for the twist ending and left things a bit more ambiguous. As it is, the ending doesn't quite fit with the rest of the film's style, but it still makes for an entertaining ride.

Warner Bros.

As for the acting, everyone is great. While Jackman can definitely over do it when he's given the chance to play serious roles like this one and Les Miserables (which he definitely over did), he's at his prime here as the angry, emotionally wrecked father, with issues/history of his own, willing to do just about anything to get his little girl back. Gyllenhaal delivers a more subtle performance as the detective in charge of the abduction case in how he convinces the audience through twitches and other physical and emotional signs that there's more to his character than we learn about in the film. This is what makes the writing and acting of the characters especially good is that each person is unique and we can sense that there is much more to them than meets the eye. Even though Jackman receives the most attention in terms of the films theme, (literal "prisoners" and being a prisoner to your own faults, history, etc) hints are dropped concerning each character throughout the film making for a story that goes much deeper than surface level events.

Thus, thanks to expert writing, directing, and acting, Prisoners successfully avoids too many cliches and makes for a fresh, albeit dark and disturbing, film. Gyllenhaal and Jackman definitely deserve nominations, and I wouldn't be surprised if the screenplay and cinematography were nominated as well. Villeneuve could possibly get a nomination as well, but judging by the rest of the Oscar-hopefuls being released this year (Nebraska, 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, etc) the directing Oscar could be the most contended award this year. Still, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I would suggest going to see Prisoners.