Prisoners

I am now home after a weekend spent at my very hospitable in-laws, surrounded by amazing cottage country views and near perfect weather.  While it was a great time, it was also quite hard.  I have found that when my anxiety was very pressing and relentless a few months ago, it left me quite tired and unsure of myself in social settings.  If I add onto that the fact that I am an introvert by nature, it means that a weekend away (even though the company is great) can be extremely draining.  I explained it to my wife that if I had a metaphorical glass of emotional energy, anxiety is a hole at the bottom of it which can sometimes let the glass drain a lot faster than it can be refilled.  That is what happened to me this weekend, but with tasty ham and chicken.  All of that to say, I had a near breakdown on the highway, but I am now in my slippers drinking some rooibos tea and the world is set right again.

My reasoning behind reviewing Prisoners today is because it is set around Thanksgiving holiday in the States, but also it does highlight in a form the depletion of emotional energy that I had mentioned above.  The movie stars Hugh Jackman as Kelly Dover, a blue collar father who believes in being prepared for all possibilities (including surviving in the post-apocalyptic world, it would seem) whose daughter is kidnapped while the Dover family is celebrating Thanksgiving with their friends, and the Birch family (whose daughter is kidnapped as well).

The content matter of this movie is deeply unsettling, and seemed to be a very risky move to write a script around.  While audiences are desensitized to a great number of violent acts and behavious in movies, the abduction of a child can hit many strong emotions for so many people.  We do not even need to be told the reasoning behind such an action, the fact that it happened is powerful enough.  The case of the missing girls is put into the ultra capable hands of Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) who has never had a case that he has not solved, and shows a quiet determination to continue his streak.

When the investigation does not go as fast as Jackman's character would like, he finds himself taking the investigation into his own hands, and ultimately venturing down a similar path as the kidnappers.  We see his passion to be a protector, but also the slow loss of sanity that comes as days pass by and he is unable to recover his daughter.  Kelly Dover becomes worn down, tired, an emotionally empty glass, who allows himself to do more and more inhumane actions.  On the other side of the investigation, we get a sense of the tiring Loki, whose face begins to show the emotional toll that this case has inflicted on him.

While the concept itself is gripping and chilling, there was little else about it that added to the intensity of this thriller.  The movie was shot absolutely beautifully, with shots that allowed some uneasiness to start sinking into the viewer.  There was a great use of props in shots to tell us some background of the lives of the characters, and that was so refreshing because it does get exhausting when you have to sit through blatant expository dialogue to get a sense of the characters.

There was some amazing acting in this film that really does need to be mentioned.  Paul Dano played a creepy suspect of the crime almost too well (not enough people seem to be praising Dano, and that is a shame).  Gyllenhaal is able to deliver us a multi-dimensional version of a police officer who seems to have a lot hidden under the surface but does his best to not let that show.  Hugh Jackman nailed some pretty impactfull scenes that showed the progression of his character as well.

The best acting, in my opinion, was sadly underused.  The parents of the Birch child, played by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis, had very little screen time in the movie.  It is a shame for a few reasons.  Firstly, they seemed to be a connection point for the audience.  While Kelly Dover is losing his sense of morality and ethics, it is the reactions of Franklin and Nancy Birch that the audience is most likely to empathize with.  They know the horrible things that Dover is doing, and are unable to participate fully, but are also able to justify turning a blind eye in the hopes that their daughter may be found through his acts of brutality.  We see the pain in their eyes, in their faces, and in their postures.  We get a deep sense of their turmoil, and we most likely may find ourselves more in their role than in the Dover's.  Secondly, they absolutely nail their performances.

The biggest downfall of this film was the script.  It had some intriguing twists and turns, at least at first they seemed intriguing, that ultimately fell apart under very light scrutiny.  There were some incredibly key coincidences that happened that made the plot progression feel forced in some places.  As much attention that was paid to setting up the shots and creating well rounded characters, it felt like that same attention was lacking from the script.

In the end, the good with the bad, it is a movie that visually looks great and at times has a creep factor of eleven.  While it was able to hit that mark at times, I found it unable to sustain it with a number of the scenes falling short for me.  This lead to a rather emotionless experience for the majority of the film, and not the white knuckle tension that is needed for a thriller.  I did enjoy the fact that the solving of the case was not the whole story, and that the paths that the father and detective took tested both of them, leaving them completely devolving at points.  There is a simple understanding and relation that we can have to characters who are growing worn down and tired, battling through mental and emotional depletion.  It is something that a lot of people deal with, just not in the same realm of the immoral that Dover finds himself in.

Rating - 2.5 out of 4 stars