Every parent's nightmare

Rating: 7/10 (17 October 2013)

Director Denis Villeneuve sustains the tension for two-and-a-half nerve- racking hours. The music and the murky cinematography give this film a moody atmosphere that reminded me of THE GIFT (2000), the Southern Gothic melodrama starring Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves. All the cast of PRISONERS bring credibility to a storyline that has a few probability-stretching elements - a a slightly daft resolution - but the film belongs to Hugh Jackman: you feel all the pent-up rage of a man who will go to any lengths, cross any moral boundary, to try and bring his daughter home. With the Madeleine McCann abduction back in the news, PRISONERS has a special resonance for UK audiences, but this is the nightmare that every parent dreads waking up to.