Missed Opportunity

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2014)

This is a tricky one. I'm going to try and avoid any form of spoiler so there'll be a certain amount of tip-toeing through the tulips. Denis Villeneuve's 2013 drama was released to widespread popular and critical acclaim.
Hugh Jackman plays Kelly Dover, a survivalist minded yet ultimately decent man committed to protecting family from a hostile world. However, Dover is thrust into impotence when his daughter and her friend go missing. As the pressure mounts on the police to produce results Dover takes matters into his own hands.
So, a great set-up. It looks great. All mute greys and dark brooding realism, but, it is shot by Roger Deakins so we would expect it to be visually fine. The characters are well drawn. The drama unfolds gradually and slowly over the first 90 minutes and is absorbing, gripping with the smack of truth. The performances are good (Maria Bello as the distraught mother and Gyllenhaal as the frustrated lead police investigator in particular). Maybe, it's being a father myself but I found Dover's sense of frustration and impotence at his inability to protect his family engrossing and the film asked some profound questions upon the line we draw for own limits and actions.
However, everything collapses in the last third act as the film decides to get, well.... silly. All the good work done previously is undone as the plot takes a turn to the formulaic. It's as if the film-makers lost confidence in their set-up.
The film switches tone from an engrossing drama into a rather silly police-procedural/ serial killer finale. From fine to formulaic in one movement. At one point I was expecting to hear, "He puts the dog into the basket..." The potential to be great dissolves away and the film becomes merely.... OK. Which is probably more of a crime than being rubbish. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?