Prisoners Review

There's a certain type of punishment that I wouldn't inflict on my worst enemy, uncertainty. People don't fear what has happened but what will happen. Not knowing what is going on causes a special kind of pain that eats away at you from the inside. The only thing worse than not knowing what's going to happen to you is not knowing what is going to happen to a loved one. In recent years the most worried I'd ever been for a loved one was about a year ago when my mom said she'd be home from work around five but didn't show up until about ten. I tried calling her but it just kept ringing, which meant it was on. I had no idea what had happened, she could have been dead in a ditch for all I knew. I was worried and she had only been gone for five hours, so I can't even imagine what people go through when someone they care about goes missing. Prisoners takes place in present day middle America where a religious man named Keller and his family go to their neighbors house for Thanksgiving. After dinner Keller's daughter asks if she and the friends little girl can go back to their house. Keller and his wife say it's alright but she needs to take her older brother with them. An hour or so later Keller talks to his son who says that his sister never came to get him. Both families panic not knowing where the girls are, Keller's son says that he saw the girls playing near an old RV earlier; they call the police and report what's happened. A few hours later someone spots the RV, and a nearby detective named Loki heads out and apprehends the driver. Turns out the man in the RV is a mentally challenged 20 something year old named Alex. Loki interrogates him for hours but gets nothing, when he tells Keller the situation and that they have to release Alex he isn't very happy. He claims the police aren't doing enough and takes it upon himself to find the truth. He goes to Alex once he's released and manages to get one sentence out of him. That one sentence is enough to assure Keller that Alex did abduct the girls, and he vows to go to the ends of the earth to find them. This isn't a fun watch, if anything it's downright depressing. I'm not a parent but I'd imagine this is the stuff their nightmares are made of. The strongest aspect of the film would probably the acting; every actor does a really good job. The star of the movie, Hugh Jackman, is going for the Oscar again this year. He gives one of the best performances of his career. While Jackman does a great job, Jake Gyllenhaal steals the show. He has a serious shot at best supporting actor this year. The screenplay is also very good; it throws some seriously tense moments in there. I will say that the movie is long and can be slow at times. Probably my biggest problem with the film would be that they introduce things that seem really out of place but will obviously play a more important part later; it really just takes you out of it. Watching this was very reminiscent of Mystic River. It felt like the director wanted Prisoners to be like Mystic River; the problem is that Prisoners isn't quite as good as Mystic River. Prisoners is a good movie and we'll certainly be seeing this around award time. Strong performances and good writing make this a very strong movie, and while it may be hard to watch the movie is definitely worth your time.

4/5 Stars