An unnecessarily long saga where a lot happens by chance

Rating: 1/10 (4 April 2014)

Never written a review but Prisoners got my juices flowing – in a bad way.
The film is way too long, a lot of unnecessary shots, no real emotion, no saving the cat moment (Blake Snyder) on Hugh Jackman's part and one of the most significant fatal flaws in my mind – absolutely no humour, not a pinch. It's a gritty film (and I get it), but please give me a break! An experienced writer would be able to lighten up the mood and that is a must from time to time.
Now, the inconsistencies, silly red herrings and just plain stupidity: Why would the child killer go to confess to a priest when his faith dwindled after his son died and they waged war against God? The priest confirmed that the killer was "bragging" – so what is exactly the point of going to the priest? Does not sound like a confession issue to me. Fail
Why didn't they get the priest to do a photofit and connect the dots that way? If you kill a man you sure remember at least something of him? Why didn't the maverick detective think about the old Auntie's husband going missing all those years ago and perhaps make some sort of connection? Nah, it's not good for the plot. Fail
The same maverick detective-solved-all-the-cases finds everything out by chance – by chance he sees the cable sticking out from behind a cupboard which (surprise, surprise!) is hiding a secret entrance to a secret basement and the priest never even thought of getting rid of the body. Then, by chance again, the maverick detective shoves all the stuff on the floor from his desk and voila! – A clue again! Fail
Why did Hugh Jackman's character need to beat the retarded Alex – when the genius detective interviewed him, it seemed the phobia of human touch did the job? Plus, Keller never got anything out of Alex although Alex's capable – when the plot requires – to utter a completely coherent and revealing sentence. Also, everybody would of course believe the retard but not the father trying to find his missing child. Where was surveillance? Oh, my next point – the whole police force consists of the genius detective, his superior with an office, a couple of administrative guys and a forensic team of 2 – get outta here! The genius detective does not only seem to have no training but lacking in common sense as well – why would you not close the first snake box and let the snakes get out whilst you're opening other boxes? This is just idiotic. Fail
Everybody seem to be talking in riddles – the girl that escaped utters "you were there", everybody seem to hear it, see Keller run out like mad, but for the plot purposes, nobody reacts. Instead of questioning the girl (who, we've just witnessed, can actually speak!), they just stand around in a friendly circle. Fail
Keller goes to the auntie's house knowing full well that she's a serial killer and (one in such extreme situation would gather) – very dangerous. He TURNS HIS BACK to her and mutters a threat. For what I know, she could have knocked him out with a frying pan at that point. Fail
The evil Auntie, weirdly, seems to be repeating every command twice – open the drawer x 2, get in the car x 2, everything's repeated twice – are the writers short of words? What's going on? Fail
Oh, and a note to the director – try cutting the scenes down or eliminate the ones with people just walking down the hospital corridors – may add urgency to the pace and people would not doze off whilst watching a 2.5 hour film the story of which does not warrant this length.
The list goes on. Yawn... Enough now, otherwise I may write into the early hours of the morning.