Prisoners

UK Release Date. 27 September 2013
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 33 mins
Director. Denis Villeneuve
Cast. Maria Bello, Paul Dano, David Dastmalchian, Viola Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, Melissa Leo.
Rating. 86%

Review.

Few filmmakers in recent memory have risen to prominence with the forcefulness of Denis Villeneuve, whose seemingly unstoppable career has been bolstered by a steady stream of critically acclaimed and commercially successful films (Incendies, Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049). Only his contemporary Christopher Nolan springs to mind, and the similarities between both directors are hard to ignore. Both are also genuine auteurs, each committed to a painstakingly clinical brand of filmmaking that’s muscular and intellectual in equal measure. 

Prisoners marked a new chapter in Denis Villeneuve’s career - Prisoners was the director's first film in English.

Two couples - Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Grace Dover (Maria Bello) and Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard) and Nancy Bird (Viola Davis) - have their lives completely upended when their young daughters go missing. As Keller Dover feels abandoned by the police and with no hope for any sort of resolution that doesn’t end with his daughter dead, he decides to take ever more extreme measures in an attempt to get her back. This includes abducting and torturing Alex Jones (Paul Dano), the individual he suspects is responsible for his daughter’s disappearance.

Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano produce exceptional performances. Jackman in particular, encapsulates the character's fragile complexity - a faithful man turned more and more desperate and broken as we witness him crack under the weight of his impotence.

A collaboration with acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins led to an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Cinematography. With every scene and a perpetual aching sense of loss, Villeneuve draws us further and further into the darkness that has come to define the lives of these families.

The compelling screenplay, and in particular how well constructed the story is, is another of the film's strengths. The intricate plot subverts expectations, pulling the audience in all directions. Villeneuve's powerfully imposed mood elevates what might otherwise have been a superior police procedural storyline. It puts Prisoners into the same bracket as Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Room, films unafraid to explore human wretchedness through their bleak mysteries. 

An unflinching and unforgiving examination of the eternal cycle of violence, Prisoners adroitly forces the audience to question how far they would be willing to go to protect the ones they love, and where to draw the line, if at all.