Unsettling but brilliant

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2014)

A deeply unsettling but brilliantly directed film. It's billed as a crime movie, but feels more like a horror movie!
Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal put in superb performances as respectively one of the parents and the investigating officer of two children that have gone missing. It is clear that they don't trust each other even though they are on the same 'side' and it's the tension between these two characters that makes this movie spark.
The horror comes from Hugh Jackman's character resorting to imprisoning and torturing a suspect who he is convinced took his child, subjecting him to probably even worse treatment than the missing children have experienced. The other parents find out what is going on, but choose to turn a blind eye. As I said, it's deeply unsettling.
Towards the end the movie turns into a face-paced edge of the seat thriller, as the facts of the cases are revealed in quick succession and both Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal's characters race to find and rescue the children. The tension reaches fever pitch as the horrific truth of what has happened comes to light.