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Prisoners Movie Review

Prisoners is a 2013 thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s an extremely overrated movie.

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“Pray for the best,

but prepare for the worst“

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When the police take time to find Keller Dover’s daughter and her friend, he decides to go on a search himself. His desperation leads him closer to finding the truth and also jeopardizes his own life. I am not a fan of Villeneuve’s earlier movies, especially his thrillers. I prefer his science fiction efforts. Prisoners is just another example of a Villeneuve thriller that simply doesn’t work. The fact that it got such strong reviews is mind-boggling to me when there is almost nothing special about it.

The only legitimate reason to see this movie at all is for the superb acting performances. Viola Davis and Maria Bello are both very good, but their roles are quite small. Melissa Leo was fine in a villain role, but I did not love this character whatsoever and I found the twists and turns toward the end to be uninteresting.

Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic as the policeman and very believable in the role. He brought a lot of charisma to this underwritten role. The same goes for Hugh Jackman. He is the star of this picture. He brought so much vulnerability and emotional complexity to this psychologically damaged and heartbroken father. His arc is the only truly great thing in this film.

But other than those performances, Prisoners meanders throughout its extremely long runtime, slow pace and uninteresting plot points. Needless to say, I quickly got bored with it. The script is very mediocre. It never fully explores the plight of parents in these types of situations nor does it deal with the complexities of its scenarios well.

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This is the type of movie that is all about the dread and not the thrills, which I am personally not in favor of. The movie is extremely dreary and lacking in entertainment factor while still not being sophisticated enough to pull off its dark tone and themes. The cinematography is fine, but Roger Deakins shot so many better-looking films throughout his career. The editing, directing and writing are all only serviceable in this very dull and cold film.