Dark and atmospheric thriller, can't sustain the power of the first half

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2014)

Prisoners is a careful step forward for Denis Villeneuve, a Quebec director staking his way into American territory this last year with two well received films - his first, the haunting 'Prisoners' is a solid US debut, a film so steeped in atmosphere that it spills out into the theatre.
Prisoners is not a tremendous departure for Villeneuve, who has until now built a career upon these kinds of brainy, Fincher-like thrillers, but it works, mostly because the director was able to coax two very coiled and believable performances from his two leading men (Gyllenhaal delivers one of the best and strangest performances of his career). The film however is marred in the third act by overcomplicated plot devices and exposition, a shame because its ambiguity until that point was one of its greatest strengths.
Otherwise a very watchable and visually haunting film.