Tense

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2016)

Prisoners features a pitch perfect cast with Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano, among others. Mostly every performance in the film was great but I loved especially Hugh Jackman, Gyllenhaal, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano. Jackman as the father of the missing girl is really believable and he delivers a performance that is truly Oscar worthy. My favorite scene with Jackman is when he meets Gyllenhaal for the first time in his house, you can really tell he is committed to the character but pretty much every scene he's in is great. Gyllenhaal as the detective investigating the case is great and he just continues to prove to me why he's one of my favorite actors. He's so versatile and can play a very wide range of roles. Melissa Leo plays the aunt of Paul Dano who plays a very troubled young man who is treated as a suspect in the film. Both of them are great and Paul Dano delivers a pretty odd and kind of disturbing performance.
Prisoners is the kind of movie you think is going a certain way and it mostly does but it shakes it and twists it along the way enough to keep you guessing. From the opening shot you feel the tension of the film that endures until the movie is over. This is mostly thanks to the beautiful cinematography and the smart direction of Villeneuve. He knows exactly where to put the camera in exactly what situation, especially given the talent he had on this production. So prisoners is pretty much an excellent movie, the tone of the movie is defined very early, there is a clear structure and everything is executed beautifully. Everything that happened advanced the plot or developed the characters. It reminded me of a David Fincher film. This is a very different film than Enemy, which was also directed by Villeneuve but they're both amazing films and this is definitely worth a watch.
10/10