An interesting, if too revealing trailer, and good reviews meant that Prisoners was on my must see list, but I didn’t get round to it until the last screening at any cinema in Brighton. So, this review will probably be coming out just in time for the DVD release!
Prisoners is a mostly steadily paced thriller about the search for two missing girls and the impact their disappearance has on their families. It is pretty grim stuff, both in the subject matter and the cold, mostly dark and wet weather enveloping its Georgia setting.
The atmospheric telling and all round strong performances raise this film well above the average cop thriller. The stand out performance is by Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki. It first appears that with his incessant blinking, Loki will be a familiar dysfunctional cop but his character proves to be much more complex than that. Also on the plus side, is the very real suspense concerning whether the children are alive or dead for much of the film.
It doesn’t quite reach classic status because of some pretty large plot holes, including an unbelievable identification moment that puts one particular suspect in the frame, and ultimately a fairly obvious kidnapper reveal / twist ending. Additionally, the director (Dennis Villeneuve) and writer (Aaron Guzikowski) seem to be making some sort of statement about religion.
We have a number of scenes involving people praying, people with cross tattoos, a dodgy priest and talk of punishing God, but I am not quite what point they are making. Nevertheless, well worth a watch, stick it on your DVD rental / streaming queue!