Powerful reflection on taking justice in your hands

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2017)

Prisoners is a chilling film that has an unsettling music and gray tones that will tight your chest from the first minutes. Prisoners has also a great cast, intrigue, suspense, and a powerful reflection on some important moral issues.
To me, the beauty of this film relies on its powerful reflection on the ethics of taking justice in your hands. When and why, if ever, torture is justified; my reaction is, as has always been, a resounding no. There is also the question, if you knew that you would save some people's lives by torturing a person, would you do it or be ethically excusable? My answer is a less resounding no. On the other hand, the story asks you who is worst, the person who kidnaps a child or the abductee's father who tortures somebody to save his child. Finally, if you know that somebody is taking justice in their hands and you don't denounce them or watch impassibly, are you as guilty as the perpetrator?
The story of the investigation to find the missing girls was building up well during the first half of the movie. However, the second half is a clumsy pointless wandering that doesn't help to build momentum, it builds frustration. When we discover who the baddie is, the reasons behind his/her actions are so stupid that I couldn't believe that the scriptwriters had come up with a such a thing! Finally, I found a bit unfair that two girls disappear and the story is mostly about the Kellers' sorrow, not as much as the Birches' pain, and they seem to be not having any except for some few moments in the film.
Regarding the cast, I thought all the actors do a good job overall. I usually love Gyllenhaal but I found he was just all right here, except for some sporadic sparks of his best acting; I loved his blinking tick, though. It was refreshing seeing Jackman playing something dramatic and very different from his usual roles; unfortunately, I thought he was overacting, and I didn't believe for a second that he was Keller, I thought he was Jackman trying to be Keller, which is something slightly different. On the contrary, Maria Bello really feels like she's a mother in distress. Viola Davis has that powerful mix of balanced sorrow and fragility that many people display when tragedy strikes. Paul Dano is just awesome as the mentally-challenged guy on which all suspicions seem to fall. I am surprised that Melissa Leo was nominated for an Oscar; she's good in the film, but not better than Maria Bello or Dano!
A good movie, with a clumsy script, food for thought, and a Hollywood ending. I thought, if Koreans had done this movie, we have got a fair ending.