Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2013)

This film is highly recommended.
Emotions always run high whenever a child is in peril. For years, the hostage drama has been a successful staple in the crime drama genre. Films dealing with child abduction have been a mixed lot, from the sublime (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) to the good (Raising Arizona, The Changeling), from the mediocre (Ransom, Man on Fire) to the ridiculous (Taken, Labyrinth, Bunny Lake is Missing). Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners belongs in that upper echelon of superior dramas. The film begins as a standard emotional melodrama about the aftermath of a child kidnapping before veering into a gripping story of vengeance and vigilantism. This is a film where bigger issues come into play. It doesn't play safe by being just a well-meaning routine crime drama. Instead, the filmmakers would rather deal with the gut-wrenching consequences done by flawed individuals and the backlash caused by revenge and retaliation in the name of justice.
Over Thanksgiving dinner, two children go missing. An investigation ensues, leading one detective to a possible suspect, a mentally challenged loner who was near the scene of the crime. But with little evidence to hold him and time running out, a father decides to intervene and takes matters into his own hands.
Hugh Jackman plays that father, Keller Dover, a devout Christian, an everyman who loves and protects his family at any cost. Jackman has some dark and sadistic scenes to play and his emotional range as the conflicted dad is beyond riveting. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Loki, the lead detective on the case and the actor delivers a multi-layered performance as an obsessed investigator in search of answers. Maria Bello is Keller's distraught and supportive wife, Grace. Terence Howard and Viola Davis are the other couple who are swept into this crisis and all of three actors are at the top of their game. Playing the primary suspect is Paul Dano, whose expertise in creating creepy characters comes in quite handy, along with Melissa Leo as his quirky and loyal mother.
Villeneuve's direction is lean and concise. He shows some disturbing graphic imagery to incite the necessary rationale to make the audience possibly justify the acts of violence throughout the film while debating ethical questions about the brutality: When do the ends justify the means? At what price does one trade their moral conscience for justice? How far can one desperate act go to surpass another? (Warning: This is not a film for the easily squeamish or overly sensitive film-goer.)
From the start, Prisoners captures the moviegoer's attention and never lets go. It is a tension- filled mystery with some surprising twists amid the moral dilemmas. The film is thoroughly engrossing due to a literate and perspective script by Aaron Guzikowski which takes its time to build characters and flesh out its plot. Add to that, some terrific acting from an outstanding ensemble, Villeneuve's solid direction, and you have one of the best films of the year. (My only reservation is a deliberately ambiguous ending that tends to mar the film's overall impact.)
Prisoners works on so many varied levels: as an intense crime thriller about child abduction, an emotional melodrama about a family in crisis, or as a dark parable about the violent world we live in. See Prisoners for any of those reasons, but by all means, make sure you see this film. GRADE: B+
ANY COMMENTS: Please contact me at: jadepietro@rcn.com