The second half of our Redbox Double Feature, Prisoners was the Missus' pick and I've got to apologize to her, because I was a little dubious about this one and I couldn't have been more wrong. I don't know what it is lately- maybe I'm just getting lazier in my movie choices the older I get or maybe it's some weird reflection of my job on my entertainment choices, but I seem to be veering away from the darker movies lately. I want light, entertaining, easy- and Prisoners, while entertaining is neither light nor easy- but ultimately I was glad I broke out of my lazy movie choices, courtesy of the Missus, to watch this movie, because it was an amazingly twisty, turn thrill ride that grabbed my attention and kept it the whole way through.
It starts innocuously enough: Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and his family attend Thanksgiving dinner at the house of their neighbors, the Birches (Terrence Howard and Viola Davis). That afternoon, both families' young daughters go missing. The police are quickly informed and start hunting for an RV that was parked outside the house- when the Detective David Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) tries to confront the driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano) Jones attempts to flee and is arrested.
Under questioning, Jones reveals nothing and is found to have the IQ of a ten year old and is living with his aunt (Melissa Leo.) Upon his release, Dover confronts Jones (who, being pretty damn creepy and driving the RV the girls were last seen by is prime suspect number one) who whispers to him 'They didn't cry until I left them.' Unfortunately, no one else heard this vital piece of information- and, naturally, Dover leaps to conclusions of his own and kidnaps Jones to torture him for information- a fact that his quickly discovered by the Birches, though neither of them assist with the torture.
Detective Loki, meanwhile, turns up some interesting information of his own: a body in the basement of a local defrocked Priest- whom the Priest said he had killed for claiming to be waging 'a war against God' by killing children. During a candlelight vigil for the girls, Loki sees a hooded man acting suspiciously- when he approaches the man, he runs away and becomes prime suspect number two.
The nice thing about this movie (and I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone) is that it keeps you guessing. You wander through suspects, even briefly entertaining the notion that two or three of the protagonists could be responsible for the crime- but even when you think you know who the person responsible is, there's one final twist that you don't see coming (at least I didn't) when the kidnapper is revealed.
The cast is strong, the story excellent and the movie plays on some very real fears that every parent probably has- which made it somewhat hard to watch, especially at the beginning. (I confess, we actually checked the Sex Offender Registry- thankfully no one particularly nasty lives too close to us.) The fact that Keller Dover leaps to the wrong conclusion about Alex was also particularly uncomfortable- why he doesn't listen to the police? Why is his so obsessed about finding the answers himself rather than supporting his family during this nightmare? If you were his shoes, what would you do to find your kid if they were missing? It prickles uncomfortable parts of the oxipetal as you realize that there's probably not much you wouldn't do for your children.
If there's a fault to this movie, I'd say Detective Loki's character gets a little too hard bitten and intense at times- he never seems to carry a radio and never, ever seems to phone for back-up. (The final chaotic scenes were he goes Code-3 in bad weather with a head wound and a groggy kidnapping victim in the back is especially insane. Why wouldn't you call for an ambulance? Or get someone to escort you? Or have EMS meet you halfway?)
Overall: A surprise- hardbitten, twisty and intense, Prisoners has the cast and the story to carry the viewer on a wild ride that asks some tough questions while keeping the viewer guessing as to who is really responsible for the kidnapping. **** out of ****
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