Intense Abduction Thriller

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2015)

When Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman)'s daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?
Canadian director Denis Villeneuve had been making films for years, but probably achieved his biggest success with "Incendies" (2010), getting recognized by the Academy for a foreign film. This was his followup, a much more commercial venture, and probably even more widely seen. Somehow, despite the great performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Jackman, the only nomination it got was for Roger Deakins' cinematography (which is a given -- as of 2015, he has had 12 nominations).
Christopher Orr wrote, "Ethical exploration or exploitation? In the end, I come down reservedly on the former side: the work done here by Jackman, Gyllenhaal, and especially Villeneuve is simply too powerful to ignore." He does raise a good point, however, about the thin line. The violence is intense, and understandably earned the film an NC-17. But is it justified to show this level of violence in order to explain the characters? Perhaps.