"Prisoners"
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
(Note: keep in mind that this movie clocks in at around 2 and a half hours, so forgive me if this review is a little long-winded.)
This has to be one of the darkest, bleakest and downright disturbing films I've seen for quite some time...and I'm all the happier for it.
Now, before you start to think there's something seriously wrong with me, let me explain.
Keller Dover (Jackman) is an independent carpenter living in rural Pennsylvania with his wife (Bello) and two children. Keller is also a devout Christian and "survivalist," priding himself on his preparedness for any catastrophe. Boy, you know we're in for some cruel irony.
One dreary Thanksgiving the Dover family walks around the corner to share the holiday with another family, the Birches. But after turkey dinner, the two young daughters of the Dovers and Birches, Anna and Joy respectively, mysteriously disappear. After a frantic search of the neighborhood with no results, the understandably panicked family believe their girls have been abducted.
Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) is put on the case, and the investigation soon comes upon a beat-up RV that the girls were reportedly playing on before their abduction. The driver of the RV is Alex Jones (Dano), a quiet young man with the apparent brain capacity of a 10-year-old, but seemingly not without his own secrets. Due to lack of real evidence, Jones is set free, but not before revealing cryptic words to Keller. Keller, convinced to Alex's involvement, decides to conduct his own investigation which eventually results in him capturing Alex himself, promising to find the girls and the truth no matter what the cost.
And that cost turns out to be pretty high.
Prisoners is certainly tackling hard subject-matter. Kidnapping, torture and child-endangerment in general are not most people's favorite topic, and is a terrific source of tension because of it. But Prisoners is not merely about this conflict itself, but about the characters effected by it. The title of the film is no accident; everyone in this is a prisoner of some kind, either literal or metaphorical, and a lot of the tension is derived from discovering to what extent each character is imprisoned.
By far the biggest strength of the film is its performers, and it has quite an impressive ensemble under its belt. Every character is superbly written and performed, indeed the challenge is finding what element doesn't work.
If this is not the most impressive performance of Hugh Jackman's already great career, then it's certainly his most intense. One shudders to think of the dark places he had to dig into in order to pull off this role. Jackman's Keller is a man, strong, confident, family-oriented; and while not the everyman we would expect in fiction, then certainly one we could relate to in real life. Keller has a basement stocked with guns, food, lanterns, supplies...basically when the Apocalypse hits, head to this guy's place. His motto is "expect the best, prepare for the worst," a mentality we're all too used to encountering in the paranoia of today. But this turns out to be quite futile, as for all of Keller's preparedness and strength, he is powerless to prevent the most domestic of disasters: someone taking his daughter. And you know he knows it. Jackman really conveys the helplessness and emasculation Keller feels, but you don't forget that he is a practical man who is used to having all the solutions, never shirking his responsibility to his family, and who is willing to do anything to protect his family. Even if that means losing your soul, and potentially punishing the wrong people.
As I've said before, Jackman is at his most intense, and not in comic-book Wolverine fashion: he's a real person thrust into a real and terrifying situation, and who is forced to make supremely difficult decisions, for the sake of his family. Jackman is in top form here, a destructive force to be reckoned with who we empathize with, to a point, but sometimes we doubt whether we should.
Everyone else is terrific as well. Terrance Howard and Viola Davis play the parents of the other daughter, who are also forced with the dilemma of calling out Keller's almost barbaric quest, or simply having faith that it is all necessary. In truth, their characters, along with Maria Bello as Keller's wife Grace, are somewhat shamefully pushed to the corners of the story, and while Keller is certainly engaging enough, it would've been nice for these supporters to have more than one or two important moments, especially for the women. Bello's character, overcome with grief, retreats into a pill bottle fairly early on and is hardly heard from, while Davis, although she has strong moments, is similarly glanced over rather rapidly.
However, one of the best supporting turns of the year comes from Paul Dano as Alex, the "victim" of Keller's wrath through most of the movie. As basically the chief element of mystery in film, as to whether or not he is the kidnapper, Dano nails the ambiguity of a person we're not sure whether to pity or condemn, but his complex performance succeeds in making the viewer feel like an accomplice to Keller's rage, justified or not.
But in my opinion the most impressive performance is by Jake Gyllenhaal as the loner Detective Loki. As the other main lead he provides a nice counterpoint to Jackman's fuming rage and energy, bringing subtlety and calm to the awful situation. Loki is the ice to Keller's fire. Much of the allure to the character is how little we know about him. The film tells us virtually nothing about this character's backstory, but opts for the visuals of his appearance and demeanor. We overhear rather quickly that he was at a boy's home. He has a frequent facial tic. He has a rather radical appearance for a detective: urban haircut, numerous tattoos, buttoned-up shirt with no tie. We get the impression that Loki isn't very far from being a creep himself, adding to the unease of the film. If even the intrepid cop can't be trusted, who can?
Gyllenhaal is someone who's always impressed me as an actor, ever since Jarhead. But here he gives a richly-layered, subtly-complex performance that steals the show even from Jackman. In fact, this brings up what may be one of the only problems with the film. As good as Jackman is, as the film progresses his character tends to get slightly more repetitive. While his actions are (sometimes) understandable, Jackman's delivery eventually becomes a collection of roaring and bellowing, while Gyllenhaal's is much more subdued and unpredictable. I'm not sure if the first helps to strengthen the second, or if the second harms the first, but regardless the two men play off each other pretty well.
The cinematography is really impressive, but BLEAK. The muted grays of overcast Pennsylvania in fall do well to accentuate the claustrophobia and desperation of the events unfolding. The music is very effective too with a haunting score by Johann Johannsson. The director, Denis Villeneuve, weaves a dismal yarn with plenty of twists and turns, but doesn't cloud the story's morals with stylistic flavor, nor does he throw the Aesop in our faces. I could've seen this easily directed by David Fincher, director of Se7en, and indeed in style, pacing and elements the two share a lot in common. But, in his English-language debut, Villeneuve sets his own style apart from the typical mystery-thrillers out there.
Now, be warned that this movie pulls hardly any punches in terms of violence and disturbing content. Much like Se7en, many of the awful elements are shown through descriptions and pictures after-the-fact, but it also has some pretty graphic and admittedly hard-to-watch torture scenes. I'd like to think I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to movie violence, and not much of a squirm-in-my-chair person, but every once in a while Movieland likes to throw me a stomach-churning curveball. This was one of them.
This is a rich analysis of human nature at its worst, and an effective one without being preachy. It is refreshing to see a story about vigilantism treated somewhat realistically for a change. I'm talking to you, Death Wish, Law Abiding Citizen, etc. I was reminded of Ransom (1996) with Mel Gibson, with a similar plot about the father of a kidnapped child taking matters into his own hands. But whereas in that movie, the reckless vigilantism of the determined father has little-to-no consequences, Prisoners shows us that all violence, justified or not, has dire consequences.
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