Prisoners movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS PRISONERS A THRILLING MISSING-PERSONS CASE MYSTERY?
Prisoners features a superb cast, captivating story and is extremely well-made; an excellent and suspenseful crime-mystery. It stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, and is about a man searching for his missing daughter and her friend.
Storyline
When the police are unable to track down his missing daughter and her friend for days, Keller Dover desperately decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands and search for the young girls.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard, David Dastmalchian
Writer: Aaron Guzikowski
Release Date (Australia): 17 October 2013
Runtime: 153 minutes/2h 33m
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
The film contains themes of the kidnapping of children and features scenes in which a man tortures another man for information and another man commits suicide.
There are scenes in which people are shot and blood spatters are depicted and multiple instances in which a man is beaten for information.
The film features aggressive use of the word “f**k”, as well as use of the words “s**t”, “ass”, “damn” and “hell”.
The film features mild drug references.
None.
The film features a verbal reference to pornography.
mpaa rating
R (for disturbing violent content including torture, and language throughout)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Prisoners is a suspenseful slow-burn with only brief character development and a simple idea, but it’s able to have you captivated and anticipating for the entire story. Hugh Jackman is a desperate father who takes matters into his own hands when the police take too much time to find his missing daughter. Missing person case stories are often gripping, automatically, but then a lot of them end up disappointing us; this is not one of them.
Being a crime-related mystery containing characters you actually care for without a massive introduction to them, the biggest thing about this movie are the notable feelings delivered by the ENTIRE cast. You can feel the extreme anger and desperation from Hugh Jackman as a father searching for his daughter and the confident frustration from Jake Gyllenhaal as a detective, all the way to the major worry experienced by the parents and you can understand why their teenage kids get upset about certain things.
Although it’s a fairly long movie, there’s no boring moment or sequence that doesn’t cover another detail to the story. During the crime-mystery sequences, there’s also use of a tone that slides under the thriller genre which is also very intriguing and have an effective impact on the movie. Detective scenes are captured with frustration and are always accompanied by suitable weather depictions, or are even just filmed under daylight or during nighttime. It’s a very well-made movie, and the story will never bore you, but it’s best for older teens and up.
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