A near masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (3 March 2017)

Denis Villeneuve's "Prisoners" is not only one of the best movies of 2013 but also one of the best movies of the decade, and as well as being a very Hitchcockian type of movie. The movie stars Hugh Jackman in the best performance of his career so far as Keller Dover who in the beginning of the movie brings his wife Grace (Maria Bello), and his daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) over to their friend Franklin Birch's (Terrence Howard) house who also happens to have a wife named Nancy (Viola Davis) and they have a daughter named Eliza (Zoe Soul). As soon as the Dover's arrive at the Birch's house the two girls are doing what little kids do which is play together. Then the unthinkable happens... Both girls end up going missing under mysterious circumstances. Then later in the movie the police is called and the lead detective on the case is a policeman named Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal). Then we wonder when the two girls are going to be found. With this movie Villeneuve has crafted Hitchcock like tales such as "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957), and many others. Then by the time the end comes along Keller finds the woman who kidnapped the two girls who happens to be an older woman named Holly Jones (Melissa Leo). I won't spoil anything beyond this point because all of the other major moments including the ending are much too valuable to be spoiled. The acting in this movie is so good while most importantly Jackman and Gyllenhaal as the lead characters give such good performances that they were snubbed for Oscar nominations, and the supporting performances from Bello, Howard, Davis, and Leo are so good in this movie that Leo's performance is the darkest throughout this entire film. Because of this movie I can't wait to see more of Villeneuve's work such as "Incendies" (2010), "Sicario" (2015), and "Arrival" (2016). This was a truly great movie that shouldn't be missed by anyone that is a movie fan.