A definite contender for best thriller of 2013

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2013)

Even if he already worked for over 20 years before that, director Denis Villeneuve rose to fame considerably after giving audiences his 2010 film "Incendies", a nominee for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. With "prisoners" he directed his very first English-language movie. Two young girls disappear and the film centers on the father (Jackman) of one of them and the cop (Gyllenhaal) investigating what might have happened to them. Jackman, who already gave one of my favorite performances last year with his impressive turn as Jean Valjean, delivers again as a father who does what needs to be done to save his daughter's life and Gyllenhaal, who I've never been that big of a fan, impressed me as well. His portrayal of a loner, in his profession as well as his private life, gave me the chills occasionally and proves that he can pull off characters that go far beyond the pretty boy / nice guy image.
Mostly thanks to its two leads and very atmospheric images and music, this film turned out a success and kept me on the edge of the seat for almost all of its very long 2.5 hours. It gets slightly worse when the secret behind the disappearances gets uncovered, just because most of the quiet tension vanishes and more action ensues, but it's still pretty decent. The invisible danger is far more effective than the danger from Melissa Leo when she gets exposed as the grandma from hell. She and the whole supporting cast do a decent job overall and Dano (especially), Leo, Davis and Howard did a fine job with what they were given and all have at least one scene where they can shine and command the screen. The only one who kinda left me unimpressed was Maria Bello. Once again. Guess I'm just not a great fan of her. Besides that, there were certain flaws here and there, such as the whole maze reference or the introduction of the husband to Leo's character, but looking at the whole picture, those were really just minor factors that can't remotely hurt the overall perception. This film is definitely worth a watch. Recommended, especially if you liked Eastwood's "Mystic River" and the ending scene is equally brilliant here.