Prisoners Movie Review
A feel good experience it ain’t.
I think that’s a fair warning. I don’t believe all movies need happy endings. In fact I kind of like the dark and twisted stuff, and this movie never marketed itself as a come-from-behind-happy-ending type film. It’s just a little surreal to see a non-horror mainstream movie that doesn’t have a Disneyfied all is roses and rainbows happy ending.
Actually, let me rephrase that. It’s not so much surreal as it is refreshing. Eating too many sweet happy endings can definitely lead to movie diabetes.
So this movie was pretty good, at least if you find your life lacks intensity and questionable moral choices. You definitely remain focused on the screen, and there are a few cool twists and a story that assumes your IQ is higher than the speed you drove on your way to work this morning. If you are looking for a movie to motivate you to cuddle up with your spouse or significant other this one will do the trick (be sure to email me and let me know what that experience is like. Not that I’m bitter).
On the other hand it wasn’t a brilliant movie. It’s always a little frustrating when you can clearly see what scenes were cut out of the film in order to make the run time (at 153 minutes they were already pushing the envelope so I don’t know if I would really want them re-inserted, but it’s pretty clear the director created a 200 minute movie and then the studio took a pruning sheers to it). The biggest chunk missing seems to be the back story and motivation for the main police character Detective Loki. There is a scene where he is eating Thanksgiving by himself at a Chinese restaurant, and a few other references to his work habits and drive but you are left with the feeling one of your limbs was amputated while you slept and then all memory of it erased. You can feel and understand that there is something there but you just can’t feel or enjoy it.
It’s especially unfortunate since Loki was the most interesting character and the one I was most curious about. The main character Keller Dover was good, but he was very linear and clear in his motivation. He was the locomotive pulling the train along very clear tracks, while Loki could have been the gang of train robbers riding along side and adding some cool excitement.
Another issue I found was the lack of connectivity in the story. These days in a crime story such as this we have become accustomed to seeing some cool CSI style crime investigation, with interesting tidbits of information coming from hair or fabric fibers stuck to the bottom of the suspects shoe. Instead this movie relies on really crappy coincidences and gawd-awful tropes on the order of “The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime” and the like. The investigation kind of ran back and forth with none of the investigative progression we see in most crime films. (CSI image courtesy of the TV Show T Shirt category)
It is a crime film and I did enjoy it so I will be avoiding any spoilers. This will of course mean a shorter than usual recap but I think you will thank me for it. The film starts off with Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman-X-men, Reel Steel, Les Miserables) and his family (Maria Bello-a History of Violence, Payback, Secret Window; Dylan Minnette-Let Me In, Saving Grace, the Year Without Santa Claus; Erin Gerasimovich-Orange is the New Black, Awakened, Delivery Man) heading over to Thanksgiving dinner with the their neighbors the Birch’s (Terrance Howard-Red Tails, Crash, Iron Man; Viola Davis-the Help, Solaris, Won’t Back Down; Zoe Borde-All of Us, Read Between the Lines; Kyla Drew Simmons-Parental Guidance, Santa’s Boot Camp, Soul Ties). There is a beat up RV parked on the street. During the afternoon the two little girls disappear, sparking a search.
Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal-End of Watch, Source Code, Donnie Darko) is part of the arrest of the RV driver. It turns out to be mentally challenged Alex (Paul Dano-There Will be Blood, Looper, Little Miss Sunshine). He holds up under questioning due to his inability to understand the questions and his RV checks out, causing him to be released back into the custody of his aunt (Melissa Leo-Oblivion, the Fighter, Frozen River).
In the interest of not spoiling anything I will gloss over the remainder. The rest of the film is a gritty mystery, with Keller facing some tough moral choices. Loki is a bloodhound and turns up some interesting stuff. A decent story if you can mentally gloss over all the deus ex machina.
The stars.
The story was written to at least a high school graduate level. Two stars. Great acting from pretty much everyone, especially Jake and Hugh. Two stars. In spite of the movie length the pacing was dead perfect and the film never seemed to drag. One star. In an extremely rare occurrence I found myself actually caring about all the characters and sincerely hoping they ended up all right (this is the sign of a director who knows what characters are about and can make them resonate with the audience). Two stars. A crime film the does not rely on action and violence in order to get the point across. One star. Overall worth my time and money. Two stars. Total: ten stars.
The black holes.
I left the theater really wanting to know more about Detective Loki. One black hole. Deus ex machina up the butt. One black hole. While the main characters were relatively easy to identify with I had a hard time locking onto the antagonist (when you see the film you will realize why). One black hole. I know this is petty, but the deus ex denouement is initiated by a single word said by one character in a hospital bed and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what the hell the word was. I ended up the last 20 minutes of the movie trying to figure out how we got to where we were and it was kind of infuriating. Either bad sound editing or just bad writing. One black hold. Total: four stars.
A grand total of six stars. Not bad at all. Worth your time in my opinion. Date movie? Sure. In fact I recommend it. The story is one of those creepy ones that is not an overt horror film but will motivate anyone to not sleep alone that night. Your date will want to someone to hold on to after seeing this. God knows I was squeezing my pillow extra hard (have I mentioned that my dating life sucks in the last 100 words?). Bathroom break? Actually most of the scenes in the dilapidated apartment building after the first couple are entirely missable. You won’t want to miss them but once the plot point is established you really don’t need to keep having it beaten into your head.
Thanks for reading. I will see something tonight and write it up tomorrow. Feel free to comment here on this film or my review, or if you have off topic suggestions or questions can email me at [email protected] (single brunette women in the 28-38 year range who like opinionated nerds with bitter sarcastic senses of humor are especially welcome). Talk to you soon.
Dave
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