Not starring Wentworth Miller, Vinnie Jones, or Morgan Freeman
Jackman had just watched Scrubs for the first time
DIRECTOR: Dennis Villeneuve
CAST: Van Helsing (lol), the Prince of Persia (lol), an actor from There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine and Looper (respect), black actress of the moment, the original War Machine, the new Evelyn O'Connell, and Mickey Ward's mum...
PLOT: When the BBFC's opening warning begins with telling you 'this film includes themes of child abduction', you know you're not in for a skip in the daisy field. In a remote US town, 'Keller' (Jackman) and 'Franklin' (Terrence Howard) have their daughter's kidnapped. With little faith in 'Detective Loki' (not Tom Hiddleston; Jake Gyllenhaal) and the rest of the police force, we see first-hand what depths father's will drop to in order to find their loved ones...
With the digital age and infinite knowledge and anticipation of the future directly at your fingertips, these days it isn't often that a film that you know very little about comes out of nowhere to completely blow you out of your shell. Despite the fact that the director is relatively unknown (not for long, surely), the calibre of acting talent on show would suggest that this would be many cineaste's one to look forward to of the year. Other than the odd recent trailer I had no idea of the film's existence. And due to the film's seemingly bland title (which will become more appropriate as the film rolls on) I had no intention of seeing it because of the false belief that it would be yet another conventional 'whodunnit' thriller that luckily managed to nab a few great actors with a high pay cheque.
But thanks to rave reviews and hushed Oscar buzz making Prisoners a dark horse for awards season, I thought I'd give it a shot and was subsequently shocked to the core in the best possible way. It opens in relatively recognisable fashion, introducing the families, the themes of religion and masculinity, and applying sound character development to let us know that these are neighbourly folk living a simple life in a remote little US town.
However, things quickly turn sour and the two young girls go missing, and from there on in you are hooked, wrapped around the little finger of Villeneuve and his brilliant cast, and just like that you are along for the ride. Albeit a long ride, it's the sort of narrative involving characters that are layered enough to warrant a television series, but instead, and thankfully due to the quality, this is a film that may be long, but it is never boring. You forgot to take a piss before the showing, you're two hours in, half an hour to go, and your bladder can't seem to hold out. Don't worry, your brain isn't letting you go anywhere - you'll sooner leave a puddle on your favourite seat at your local cinema.
There is only one moment in the film when it feels as if the story is going to peter out and lose its hard-hitting hook that occurs roughly three-quarters of the way through. But the film is quickly and expertly rescued and it soon dawns on you that the slowing of pace was used as a narrative device. Kudos to the fine acting, especially from Gyllenhaal who will struggle to ever top this career-cementing performance, for making sure that you don't lose faith before the powerful and gut-wrenching final act.
Gyllenhaal was desperately looking for a product that would tame his hair
One of the most impressive things about Prisoners is its balance within understanding. Many crime thrillers fail with the narrative, either being too simple that it bored audiences or too complicated that it angers and disengages audiences. Prisoners instead manages to ride the fine line directly in the middle - nobody that is actively viewing the film will be lost, yet nobody who believes themselves to be a genius and a film addict will feel that the plot spoon feeds them.
Prisoners puts the word thrill into thriller. When you see quotes such as "Edge of your seat stuff" on a DVD case, they're often lying. The following is not a lie - this is literally edge-of-your-seat stuff. There will be many a moment that you struggle to breathe and holding on for dear life. Most mystery thrillers you work out maybe halfway through, but this has you clueless right up to the final few scenes. You find out when our protagonist's find out. That's not to say that the conclusion doesn't make sense, or that the clues weren't there. They were just dealt with so well that we had as little of an idea as 'Detective Loki'.
This is also helped by the technical aspects and the execution of the film. The cinematography is beautiful in the bleakest way imaginable. The rain hammering down onto the ground, the murky, filthy locations, the detective with his own demons - it all rings true of old film noirs and it works a treat. It may be missing a femme fatale and characters chain smoking, but Prisoners is what it is, and instead utilises certain looks and feels if and when it chooses.
But at heart this is also a character study. As mentioned there is the religious and masculinity-obsessed father (Jackman), the job-obsessed detective with demons in his closet (Gyllenhaal), and the weird, ugly, child-obsessed suspect (Dano). You think that you'll know all of these characters, and you probably do. Yet you won't know them in the way that you think you do. Let the battle for shelf decorations commence!
Prisoners is by far the surprise of the year, and it is doubtful that any other film will come out of nowhere like this one and punch you in the brain and the heart in such a violent fashion for quite some time. If you're British but still consider Django Unchained a 2012 film, it's very difficult to look past this as the film of the year so far. This will stay with you long after the opening credits and then some. You will feel exhausted and overwhelmed; as if you've just stepped off the best rollercoaster in the world.
Perfection has never felt so seedy.
* * * * *
PLOT: When the BBFC's opening warning begins with telling you 'this film includes themes of child abduction', you know you're not in for a skip in the daisy field. In a remote US town, 'Keller' (Jackman) and 'Franklin' (Terrence Howard) have their daughter's kidnapped. With little faith in 'Detective Loki' (not Tom Hiddleston; Jake Gyllenhaal) and the rest of the police force, we see first-hand what depths father's will drop to in order to find their loved ones...
With the digital age and infinite knowledge and anticipation of the future directly at your fingertips, these days it isn't often that a film that you know very little about comes out of nowhere to completely blow you out of your shell. Despite the fact that the director is relatively unknown (not for long, surely), the calibre of acting talent on show would suggest that this would be many cineaste's one to look forward to of the year. Other than the odd recent trailer I had no idea of the film's existence. And due to the film's seemingly bland title (which will become more appropriate as the film rolls on) I had no intention of seeing it because of the false belief that it would be yet another conventional 'whodunnit' thriller that luckily managed to nab a few great actors with a high pay cheque.
But thanks to rave reviews and hushed Oscar buzz making Prisoners a dark horse for awards season, I thought I'd give it a shot and was subsequently shocked to the core in the best possible way. It opens in relatively recognisable fashion, introducing the families, the themes of religion and masculinity, and applying sound character development to let us know that these are neighbourly folk living a simple life in a remote little US town.
However, things quickly turn sour and the two young girls go missing, and from there on in you are hooked, wrapped around the little finger of Villeneuve and his brilliant cast, and just like that you are along for the ride. Albeit a long ride, it's the sort of narrative involving characters that are layered enough to warrant a television series, but instead, and thankfully due to the quality, this is a film that may be long, but it is never boring. You forgot to take a piss before the showing, you're two hours in, half an hour to go, and your bladder can't seem to hold out. Don't worry, your brain isn't letting you go anywhere - you'll sooner leave a puddle on your favourite seat at your local cinema.
There is only one moment in the film when it feels as if the story is going to peter out and lose its hard-hitting hook that occurs roughly three-quarters of the way through. But the film is quickly and expertly rescued and it soon dawns on you that the slowing of pace was used as a narrative device. Kudos to the fine acting, especially from Gyllenhaal who will struggle to ever top this career-cementing performance, for making sure that you don't lose faith before the powerful and gut-wrenching final act.
One of the most impressive things about Prisoners is its balance within understanding. Many crime thrillers fail with the narrative, either being too simple that it bored audiences or too complicated that it angers and disengages audiences. Prisoners instead manages to ride the fine line directly in the middle - nobody that is actively viewing the film will be lost, yet nobody who believes themselves to be a genius and a film addict will feel that the plot spoon feeds them.
Prisoners puts the word thrill into thriller. When you see quotes such as "Edge of your seat stuff" on a DVD case, they're often lying. The following is not a lie - this is literally edge-of-your-seat stuff. There will be many a moment that you struggle to breathe and holding on for dear life. Most mystery thrillers you work out maybe halfway through, but this has you clueless right up to the final few scenes. You find out when our protagonist's find out. That's not to say that the conclusion doesn't make sense, or that the clues weren't there. They were just dealt with so well that we had as little of an idea as 'Detective Loki'.
This is also helped by the technical aspects and the execution of the film. The cinematography is beautiful in the bleakest way imaginable. The rain hammering down onto the ground, the murky, filthy locations, the detective with his own demons - it all rings true of old film noirs and it works a treat. It may be missing a femme fatale and characters chain smoking, but Prisoners is what it is, and instead utilises certain looks and feels if and when it chooses.
But at heart this is also a character study. As mentioned there is the religious and masculinity-obsessed father (Jackman), the job-obsessed detective with demons in his closet (Gyllenhaal), and the weird, ugly, child-obsessed suspect (Dano). You think that you'll know all of these characters, and you probably do. Yet you won't know them in the way that you think you do. Let the battle for shelf decorations commence!
Prisoners is by far the surprise of the year, and it is doubtful that any other film will come out of nowhere like this one and punch you in the brain and the heart in such a violent fashion for quite some time. If you're British but still consider Django Unchained a 2012 film, it's very difficult to look past this as the film of the year so far. This will stay with you long after the opening credits and then some. You will feel exhausted and overwhelmed; as if you've just stepped off the best rollercoaster in the world.
Perfection has never felt so seedy.
* * * * *
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