A riveting slow burner

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2013)

The Dovers a religious family meet up for thanksgiving lunch over at the Birches, their friendly neighbor. Both families have two children, a teen and a kid. By evening the two kids go missing. A creepy looking young man who had his RV parked outside is the main suspect. Detective Loki(Gyllenhaal), an efficient investigator with cent percent solve rate is assigned to the case. However there is nothing that ties the suspect to the missing girls...or is there? Did Dover(Jackman) pick up something the police couldn't? Could this father with anger issues be right after all? Morality is put to test when strong suspicions become motive for vigilante investigation. Soon Winter approaches and the case is tuning cold with dead-end leads.
Thriller lovers rejoice, the dry spell for suspense masterpieces ends with prisoners. With stellar performances from the entire cast topped off with a compelling portrayal of Keller Dover by Hugh Jackman, Prisoners is 150 minutes well spent.Make no mistake this is NOT a fast paced thriller with action sequences and multiple twists. Prisoners is a slow burner that tightens the tension steadily and by climax the pressure hits the roof. The aha moment when Dover puts all the pieces in place and the consequences that follow is simply a stroke of genius from writer Aaron Guzikowski.
A good suspenseful plot can be occasionally seen in an episode of a procedural TV show. Terrific acting from an ensemble cast is usually a part of an award bait drama and then rarely comes the amalgamation of both resulting in an "Argo" or a "Silence of the lambs". Prisoners definitely belongs among these classics and hopefully will be duly awarded not only for the performances but for the direction and writing that transforms a decent story into a terrific movie.