Relentlessly grim...and rather predictable

Rating: 5/10 (26 September 2015)

PRISONERS seems to win a lot of plaudits amongst reviewers on here but I'm afraid it's the type of film that left me cold - literally so. Like MYSTIC RIVER, this is a film that has an icy gloom about it, with broken, unlikeable characters, murky cinematography, and a relentlessly grim storyline. It's the sort of film you watch and then go and have a cold shower afterwards in a bid to get rid of some of the ickiness.
Sadly, the storyline of this film is a very predictable one that borrows heavily from other movies, and originality seems to be in very short supply. The first half of the picture involves child abduction and revenge and seems to have been borrowed from the B-movie THE TORTURED, although thankfully it's not quite as graphic as that film; it's still nasty, though. The second film turns into a police procedural triller with nods to ZODIAC as a grim-faced Jake Gyllenhaal wanders around trying to piece together clues.
On top of all this, at two and a half hours PRISONERS is overlong and rather stodgy. The only thing it has going for it is the A-list cast, which lifts the material quite considerably. Hugh Jackman is fine in a serious role, and we know Gyllenhaal can do this sort of thing in his sleep. Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, and Melissa Leo are all solid too. It's just a shame the material is so below par given the ratings.