Rating: 4 Stars out of 4, Thumbs Up.
Rated R For Disturbing Violent Content Including Torture And Language Throughout.
2hrs 33min/153min.
50 uses of the F-word.
Detective Loki: "Alex Jones, Unfortunately has the IQ of a 10-year-old. There's no way a man with the IQ of a 10-year-old could abduct 2 girls in broad daylight and then... somehow disappear."
Keller Dover: "Well, maybe he wasn't alone. How could he drive an RV if he has an IQ of a 10-year-old?"
Prisoners scared the hell out of me. I'm not a parent, obviously, but this film disturbed me, to the point where I put myself in the shoes of a parent. Now, Fathers will want to watch this film, one of the main characters is a father, but mothers won't want to watch it. Mothers can't watch a film like this and that's totally understandable. Mothers can't handle watching a film involving kidnapped children. If I was a parent, which I hope to be in the near future, I would find this hard to watch.
This film could be compared with 2009's Taken, however, even though these are two completely different films. In Taken, Liam Neeson does everything he can to get his daughter back, by being a badass, shooting everyone in sight. In Prisoners, Hugh Jackman does everything he can to get his daughter and his friends daughter found, but he acts like a normal father. He's not a retired CIA agent who has a very particular set of skills, he's just a normal father.
It's Thanksgiving. All is quiet. Two families get together to celebrate this special holiday. The two daughters, one from father Keller Dover(Hugh Jackman) and Franklin Birch(Terrence Howard) go over to the Dovers' residence to look for a red whistle. Hours pass by and the girls haven't returned. It turns out, the girls have been kidnapped by a man(Paul Dano) driving an RV. Assigned to the case is Detective Loki(Jake Gyllenhaal) who grows more and more attached to the case, the more it goes on. Something doesn't sit well with Loki about the RV driver, whose name is Alex Jones and is determined to find out the truth behind these kidnappings.
Hugh Jackman is at his absolute best. His performance as a distraught father is achingly real. There are times where he wants Loki to charge Jones for petty misdemeanors, just because he knows that he took the children. "Don't talk with him, just arrest him!" he shouts at Loki. This is understandable because he just wants his daughter back. At 70 minutes in, he resorts to torture, he doesn't see another way around it. If he can't make him tell the truth, he can beat it out of him.
Jake Gyllenhaal is one of my favorite actors of all time, and he does not disappoint here. He provides a great method performance as Detective David Wayne Loki(Although his full name isn't stated, look closely on his cards in the film), a man who starts the film as a normal detective, but by the end, he's been put through hell, putting all of his hours into this case. He wants to put the right man behind bars, but the police captain won't let him. Gyllenhaal gives the performance an extra step further. He has an eye tick where he blinks unusually. It's the little things that push this movie to the edge of greatness.
The other players do well. Terrence Howard pulls off the role of a father who wants his girl back. He doesn't want to go to the extremes that Keller is going to. Viola Davis and Maria Bello give haunting performances as distressed mothers. Paul Dano gives off the presence of a truly disturbed individual with Melissa Leo turning in a seemingly sweet yet devilish aura as Alex's Aunt.
The slick lensing and editing done in the film makes it feel all the more unsettling. The film has a gray look to it, making the world seem bleak. The film has little gunshots going off, but when they do, it's loud and makes you jump. The sound design matches the visual look perfectly and makes the outcome of the story fade as the seconds of the running time of the film tick by and by. Will Keller receive his daughter back and escape alive? Now you know I can't tell you that. This movie is too good to spoil.
Now, The torture scenes that are in the film are pretty brutal and, at points, are very hard to watch. Later on in the film, Keller builds a small box with four wood walls with a small pipe sticking out so he can communicate with Alex. The film almost received an NC-17 rating due to the graphic nature of these scenes. So how did the filmmakers get the final R Rating? By simply cutting a few seconds off of these scenes. Just to prove that sometimes, the NC-17 needs to be out of the heads of the people at the MPAA.
The use of symbols in this film is quite often. The most famous symbol related with this film is the image of a labyrinth like maze. This maze comes into play later in the movie, quite cleverly. The maze could also refer to the many twists and turns the story frequently takes. I also think that the RV could be used as a potential symbol. Whenever the RV is onscreen, I get an uneasy feeling, knowing that something bad is about to happen. 
Prisoners is one of the best films of 2013. It's unsettling. It's scary. It's nerve-wracking. It's haunting. It's everything I want in a movie. Good performances, brilliant storytelling, the whole nine yards. The day I have children, I'll sit them down, when they're old enough, and show them this film as a way to both enlighten them and scare them of the dangers of the world out there. Prisoners should scare you and make you aware. If you are reading this and you have children, I hope they stay safe. They're too precious to lose, and it will hurt like all hell if they die at a young age. Keep the children of America well. It always hurts me when I hear of child molestation or kidnapping or, worse death. We need to keep people like that in prison and off the streets *Cough* Casey Anthony *Cough*. Sorry, I just get worked up when I hear stories like that.
Prisoners(2013) Blu-Ray Review
The Blu-Ray of Prisoners is stunning. The sound transfer is excellent as stated before when the gunshots go off. The picture Quality is even better. The image really pops off of the screen. The film is of course great. The special features section of the film doesn't hold up as well. You only get two featurettes on the film. They're ok, they just leave you wanting more.
Special Feautres
Feautrettes
-Prisoners Every Moment Matters
-Prisoners Powerful Performances
Film-****
Sound-****
PQ-****
Special Features-**
Overall-***1/2 Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment