Starts well but ends up being tiresome and exhausting

Rating: 6/10 (8 December 2013)

In a small town in Pennsylvania, two families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving. But during the night, their two young daughters disappear without a trace. A hunt is put forward, and the only suspect seems to be a retarded man who was in a RV outside the house at the time. He is detained and soon released for lack of evidence, but the hothead father of one of the girls (Hugh Jackman, in a spectacular performance) decides to pursue the man and eventually kidnaps and tortures him in order to get information. But this is just the beginning, since there is almost two hours more of film.
This thriller seems very exciting at the hour point, but in the latter part descends into a tiresome series of twists and dead herrings. By the time the running time of two hours and a half has past, the audience is exhausted. The movie also suffers from serious leaps in logic and even basic continuity (WARNING: I will reveal some spoilers now): 1) when the retarded man is detained, the house where he lives with his aunt is apparently never thoroughly searched though it will turn out to be the place where the girls were held captive, 2) when other suspect kills himself in the police station, this is news in the local newspaper, but one policeman investigating the case is apparently unaware of it, 3) this whole subplot with the seeming suspect played by David Dastmalchian is never fully explained (and how he got a gun to kill himself?), 4) I find it unbelievable that the other parent (Terrence Howard) agrees to torture the suspect.
Maria Bello gives a fine performance as the troubled wife of Jackman. So does Jake Gyllenhall as the main detective.