Prisoners (2013) Review

4.5/5

This is a dark, dreary, and oft depressing film with a human touch and a clockmaker's efficiency. The guts that Villeneuve has to make a film that runs over 2 and a half hours with a story that is tough, grisly, violent and bleak are admirable and luckily he has the visual palate and pacing mastery to pull it off. The actors he had in the film helped tremendously.
Hugh Jackman is the man to be. He has an anger in his heart and a violence in his eyes that is never too much; on the contrary, he is convincing and captivating. He is the heart of the film, and it beats with his fury. Jake Gyllenhaal is quite the actor, and I think that Villeneuve is his match. The upcoming Enemy premiered to rave reviews at Toronto where they worked together, and here he extracts a performance that is so internal yet ridiculously powerful that it shakes you. Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, and Viola Davis all turn in star performances as parents grieving their children's abduction.
The score is wonderfully ominous, the script precise and sharp, and the cinematography by Roger Deakins an extraordinary shade of gray and beautifully shot as always.
It's been quite a while since a film was so powerful it could overcome a busted speaker in the theater and an annoying couple behind me who narrated every action in the film. The story leaves you with an immediate pit in your stomach that only worsens as the time passes which establishes it as not only a work of art but an intense filmgoing experience. Rarely has a film so clearly established a "what would you do" premise that leaves you breathless as Prisoners does.
This is an awards contender for sure, especially in the acting categories, and I strongly recommend you seek it out as one of the best films 2013 has had to offer thus far.