Movie Review: Prisoners (English)

Well-made police procedurals are hard to come by these days. Hence it was with much anticipation that I went to catch Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners. An abduction-themed mystery thriller on the lines of some of Hollywood's best movies such as The Silence of the Lambs, Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, the film is a gripping roller-coaster ride, opening in suburban Pennsylvania during a rainy November season and revolving around two families, the religious Dovers and the Birches, who find their young daughters Anna and Joy missing as they gather around for a Thanksgiving meal.

Prisoners

Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhal) is assigned to investigate the disappearance, and initial suspicion falls on a meek manchild Alex Jones (Paul Dano), who had parked his vehicle just about the place where the girls were last seen playing around. But with no concrete evidence to tie the abductions to Alex, Loki is forced to release him much to the displeasure of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), who, unconvinced of his innocence, decides to take his own route to get his daughter back.

Prisoners is an exploration of human behaviour, basing its premise on vigilantism and questioning the lengths people go to protect their loved ones. Is taking the law into your own hands justified even if it were to extract the truths? It's this morality angle, the thin line between the right and the wrong, that the movie brilliantly explores. The vibrantly drawn out characters too stand out in this complex psychological drama. If Keller is emotionally torn over stepping aside his religious beliefs to find his daughter, his wife Grace (Maria Bello) copes up with the trauma in a sea of sedatives.

Joy's parents Franklin (Terrence Howard) and Nancy (Viola Davis) are averse to Keller's violent methods, know what he's doing ain't right, yet find themselves inevitably lending a helping hand. Alex as the mentally unhinged guy drops vague hints about the girls' safety, even as he endures days of torture at the hands of Keller for not wanting to betray the person who loves him. And as for Loki, his is an intriguing character. A loner, he is hinted to be a victim of a tragic past, and his dogged persistence in cracking the maze setting aside his personal demons and bureaucratic hassles makes for an interesting character study.

Writer-director Villeneuve keeps the tone dark, intense and depressing, and Roger Deakins's cinematography breathtakingly captures the mood in its entirety. Granted there are a few loose ends, including the open-ending (is Keller ultimately a hero or an anti-hero?), but if Prisoners succeeds it's because it's a riveting watch thanks to its wonderful ensemble cast and its terrific technical backing. Here's a fine, very fine, psychological thriller. Highly recommended.