REVIEW: Prisoners

Hey, you know what I watched last night? Prisoners staring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Hey, you know what’s darker than the midnight sun? Prisoners staring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

In short, the movie is about a kidnapping and the subsequent investigation thereof. Jackman plays a Dad who was always prepared for everything but is now forced to grapple with his own lack of control, and Gyllenhaal plays a grizzled cop who has finally bitten off more than he can chew.

In many ways, it’s a thriller’s thriller. One that follows in a long line of blue color graded movies with intense violence and ambiguous morality set in a forest somewhere. But look at it all with a cold heart and you’ll miss the film’s gusto.

The subtleties of Prisoners are what make it engaging. Masterful even. From performance, to cinematography (shout out to the legendary Roger Deakins), to score, and back again, each scene is done with the tiniest touches of reality that lead into SERIOUS nature of the soul questioning.

For example, 75% of movies with a plot like this would opt to show their kidnapping scene on screen. Or at minimum, they would do a big fat buildup with a full orchestra to revel in the discovery that the children are gone.

Prisoners says screw that. Not only are the girls kidnapped off screen, but it takes A WHILE for the families to even notice. They just gradually transition to complete and utter helplessness, rain, footsteps, and the slightest of bass synths magnifying the horror we as audience and the characters already realize.

This scene HIT me HARD. It was all just a bit too real… but that’s kind of what I’m trying to get at in this review. Everything in this movie is a bit too real.

That’s not to say Prisoners is void of movie magic. In fact, there are many scenes that capitalize on weird karmic fate clunking characters together with violent energy. But because the detail work is so good in some of the most pivotal sequences, these “less real” moments feel oddly fitting, and bring a lot of thematic gravitas.

I mean, isn't great tragedy is often paired with uncanny coincidence? Isn't melodrama often more real than we give it credit? Prisoners walks a delicate balance and comes out hitting close to home, reminding us that somehow matters of faith, love, forgiveness, justice, power, and evil, are both beyond our grasp and right within it. Woof.

At this point I’m really just describing director Denis Villeneuve’s trademark, who you may know from Arrival or Blade Runner 2049 or Sicario. He knows how to make a moment feel incredibly tangible while asking these very big, almost unanswerable questions, and playing a lot with dichotomy along the way.

What a genius. Dune is going to be great.

4.5/5

P.S. Also, did you know Viola Davis was in this movie? Because she’s IN this movie! Also, also, is Paul Dano is in this movie! Yay for Paul Dano! I love me a good Dano!

P.P.S. After watching this flick I knew there was no way I could go to sleep without nightmares so instead I switched to the first positive looking thing on my Hulu movie queue: Rocketman (2019)

You can read that review on my Patreon :)