Was This Film a Thriller? Action Film? or Horror Story? Or All of the Above?

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2016)

While "Prisoners" has won acclaim for its style, the film's content is both unpleasant and stretches credibility beyond the pale.
Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover and Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki are both excellent in the leading roles, and director Denis Villeneuve evokes plenty of suspense in his lighting, camera angles, and pacing. But as the film unfolds, the story of the abduction of two children becomes more and more depressing.
One of the problems with the film was the extremely unappealing characters. Jackman's role goes well beyond that of the concerned parent, as he breaks the law by kidnapping and torturing the young man whom he believes is the perpetrator. Gyllenhaal's detective is also concerned; but he is also inept and becomes so out of control emotionally that he attacks another suspect while in police custody, turning the prime suspect into another victim when he commits suicide.
The convoluted kidnapping plot is never completely unraveled in the film. SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWS: As the film moves towards its climax, one of the little girls who has escaped her captors, implicates Jackman's character as one of the kidnappers who had placed tape over the mouths of the victims. The family of Keller Dover owned the residence where an earlier kidnapping the murder had occurred. It is that residence where Keller Dover takes Alex Jones (Paul Dano) to be tortured. So, the clear implication is that the devoted father was somehow involved in the original kidnapping plot.
While worthy of discussion and admirable for the good performances, "Prisoners" seems incomplete as a film, the final cut no more than a work in progress.