A very good, emotionally wrenching film

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2014)

While this was a very good, emotionally wrenching film, it was just not as good as it could have been. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers one of his best performances in a long time (I'm tempted to say since Brokeback Mountain, seriously), as his Detective Loki was the right amount of measured intensity and anguish. Conversely, Hugh Jackman's performance, while good, is just a little over the top. An emotionally powerful performance doesn't always involve screaming at the top of your lungs in every scene and unfortunately that's the lasting impression I had from him here.
I also found the story suffered from a few too many plot holes in my opinion. Having said that, the director did a fantastic job of creating a dark, cold, dreadful atmosphere that permeated the film and really created a sense of despair. Overall, I would say this is worth seeing, especially for Gyllenhaal's underrated performance alone.
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