Review - Prisoners (2013)

Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Melissa Leo.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Synopsis: A Pennsylvania man kidnaps the person he suspects is behind the disappearance of his young daughter and her best friend.

Featuring a star-studded cast, Prisoners shows a father's determination in finding his missing daughter and her friend, even with little to no help from the authorities -- in this case, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal).

The movie features a familar premise but what keeps it from being a complete bore are the powerful performances, to go along with a strong script and direction. Hugh Jackman plays a very angry man (Keller Dover) in this movie; He exuberates such raw and believable emotion and at one point I felt like I was going to tear up. Overall the cast was solid; their acting definitely made this film feel so real-life. Jake Gyllenhaal was great as the case detective but Hugh Jackman is the highlight of Prisoners.

Both Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal are the driving forces of this movie; we follow an angry and emotional Keller who has resorted to taking matters into his own hands, but we never lose focus of a keen Detective Loki who takes us on a detective ride as well. 

Denis Villeneuve's direction is commendable. He creates this dark, depressing and not to mention, tense atmosphere which is so fitting to go along with the film's thought-provoking events. Despite the slow pacing and duration, this movie kept me interested all the way with its subplots, twists and turns. The movie did a good job in keeping you so close to the solution but yet so far away. As in, I knew a twist was coming but I couldn't figure it out until the end.

Dark, tense and featuring some great performances, Prisoners is 2013's version of David Fincher's Zodiac. Okay maybe not as great as Zodiac but I still consider it an interesting enough and well acted detective drama.

Rating: 8/10