Dark and morally murky even if it doesn't have the courage of its convictions

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2013)

In the space of a few days both the male stars of this film were so heavily into promoting it that they both appeared on the Daily Show on different nights. This suggested that the film must be struggling either because of quality or because it is a hard sell – and it certainly seemed that the latter was most likely to be the reason for the sales push. The plot sees two young girls go missing on thanksgiving in a small rural town; a suspect is found and while the police try to figure it all out, the emotional impact on the two families starts to take its toll.
This is a hard sell, even before we get to the meat of the story everything has a downbeat tone – even Thanksgiving seems a subdued affair with the grey skies and rain. From here it gets darker as the children go missing, the investigation starts and morality is testing in the actions of the characters. On this level it mostly works pretty well – mostly. The realistic tone to everything draws you into the story and it keeps you there as things start to get murky both in terms of the investigation but also the actions of the characters. This offered a much more interesting film than just a straight police procedural and for a lot of the time it does have real impact to it, but gradually it shies away from it – having its cake and eating it at the same time. This leaves the mystery which is also not as satisfyingly as I would have liked; it was solid enough but with the cast and the dark, adult tone to the film, I was hoping that the narrative would be brave enough to match it in many ways. It did a decent job, but it really did feel like it walked it back too much in too many ways. In terms of length it does run long and would have been better if the mystery hadn't included so many different branches within it.
The cast justify the tone and everyone is excellent – to the point where I wished the material hadn't seemed to lose it in the final third. Whether this is a shot at Oscars I don't know but everyone is as strong as the castlist would suggest. Gyllenhaal has a straightforward character but makes a good presence from it; he has an intensity and presence that works for him and the film. Jackman does a great job with a changeable character – bravely ploughing into his actions with determination and as a result it is a shame for his performance that the film doesn't hold together as well as it should for the final third. Support is generally very strong as you would expect from Bello, Howard, Davis, Leo, Dano and others.
Overall Prisoners is an engagingly dark and murky crime thriller. The mystery is flawed but still good, while the morality questions are well presented if not fully followed through. A shame for the strong performances that the film doesn't totally hold it together and deliver, but it is still worth watching for what it does well.