Prisoners is a tense, engrossing mystery thriller with scenes of genuine terror, which makes it all the more disappointing that the plot becomes so absurd. The premise is that cop Jake Gyllenhaal is investigating the disappearance of two young girls, and the distraught father of one of the girls (played by Hugh Jackman) becomes an unhinged and violent vigilante in his search for justice. What follows is a grim clusterfuck involving a disturbed cat burglar (David Dastmalchian), a mysterious corpse in a priest's basement, a long-uncaught Serial Killer, and Jackman's character torturing a mentally-retarded suspect (played by Paul Dano).
The main problem with the movie is Dastmalchian, the cat burglar. Gyllenhaal just happens to see him behaving oddly at a prayer vigil for the abducted girls, and then catches him at his home, which is full of bloody children's clothing. Case closed, right?
Wrong. Dastmalchian just happens to have some mental complex that involves him stealing clothes from the victims' houses, and soaking them in pig's blood to re-enact the killer's crimes, or some nonsense. He is also one of two characters in the film (the other is Dano) who actually knows the killer's true identity, but is conveniently unable to tell the police because of his mental condition. Psychologists can diagnose Dano and Dastmalchian's characters with whatever, but I prefer to call it "contrived."
Also contrived is the short timespan of the film, which the screenwriters use to hide the fact that Gyllenhaal could've easily found the girls (and the killer) if he had simply executed a search warrant of his prime suspect's house. But since Prisoners takes place over five or six days, we can assume that Gyllenhaal was still waiting on a warrant to come through, or something.
The acting is good all around — Gyllenhaal and Jackman are appropriately desperate, Dano and Dastmalchian are creepy, and the killer is genuinely terrifying — but since half the actors I mentioned are playing Hollywood inventions instead of people, it's hard to get invested in any of them. The tone of the film is also appropriately dismal and disturbing, but it's wasted on an absurd story.
5/10, honestly. 6 if you want to be generous. Go rewatch Oldboy (2003) if you want a story about the folly of vengeance, or Se7en if you want a good serial killer thriller.
Gripping, but ridiculous.
Prisoners is a tense, engrossing mystery thriller with scenes of genuine terror, which makes it all the more disappointing that the plot becomes so absurd. The premise is that cop Jake Gyllenhaal is investigating the disappearance of two young girls, and the distraught father of one of the girls (played by Hugh Jackman) becomes an unhinged and violent vigilante in his search for justice. What follows is a grim clusterfuck involving a disturbed cat burglar (David Dastmalchian), a mysterious corpse in a priest's basement, a long-uncaught Serial Killer, and Jackman's character torturing a mentally-retarded suspect (played by Paul Dano).
The main problem with the movie is Dastmalchian, the cat burglar. Gyllenhaal just happens to see him behaving oddly at a prayer vigil for the abducted girls, and then catches him at his home, which is full of bloody children's clothing. Case closed, right?
Wrong. Dastmalchian just happens to have some mental complex that involves him stealing clothes from the victims' houses, and soaking them in pig's blood to re-enact the killer's crimes, or some nonsense. He is also one of two characters in the film (the other is Dano) who actually knows the killer's true identity, but is conveniently unable to tell the police because of his mental condition. Psychologists can diagnose Dano and Dastmalchian's characters with whatever, but I prefer to call it "contrived."
Also contrived is the short timespan of the film, which the screenwriters use to hide the fact that Gyllenhaal could've easily found the girls (and the killer) if he had simply executed a search warrant of his prime suspect's house. But since Prisoners takes place over five or six days, we can assume that Gyllenhaal was still waiting on a warrant to come through, or something.
The acting is good all around — Gyllenhaal and Jackman are appropriately desperate, Dano and Dastmalchian are creepy, and the killer is genuinely terrifying — but since half the actors I mentioned are playing Hollywood inventions instead of people, it's hard to get invested in any of them. The tone of the film is also appropriately dismal and disturbing, but it's wasted on an absurd story.
5/10, honestly. 6 if you want to be generous. Go rewatch Oldboy (2003) if you want a story about the folly of vengeance, or Se7en if you want a good serial killer thriller.