Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer: Aaron Guzikowski
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello
Prisoners is a crime drama telling the story of two girls
who go missing in a seemingly safe neighbourhood. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the
detective leading the case attempting to find the girls and Hugh Jackman is the
father of one of the girls who will go to extreme lengths for reunion.
If there is anything of note to take away from this film is that is incredibly gripping. There are multiple sub-plots that all are tightly linked to the main story of the missing girls. In a lot of films, sub-plots are used to vary the pace but often the viewer doesn’t actually want to watch what happens in these sub-plots. In this, however, there is a not a scene that wasn’t powerfully intense and every scene contributed to the overall plot of the film.
There is a definite empathy that everyone could get from this film. Everyone has experienced some sort of loss and been pretty angry about it. If this thing that you had lost was a person who is biologically linked to you then it is surprisingly easy to see why characters do the things they do in this film. This is one of the standout strengths of the film. If looking at the film from a distance, it may seem akin to the Saw series; just a repetition of gratuitous violence. Some of the acts depicted in the film are clearly heinous but I warrant different people would give very different opinions on these acts. The circumstances don’t make the characters seem like awful people but they also don’t make the things they do the obvious solution. That was impressive and squeezed every bit of emotion and tension out of the script.
The score used in the film is also incredible. It’s diverse, being used during scenes of varying moods and tensions, as well as amplifying, sending a normal scene into the realms of gut wrenching desire for the protagonists the succeed. The sound of the score really mirrors the film at large. If you were to play The Candlelight Vigil over shots of the film, not only would have an excellent trailer but that trailer would tell me the exact mood of the film. Sometimes you don’t even notice that the score has leaked into the scene that you are watching. This speaks to the intoxicating gripping power the film possesses and the understated nature of the score.
The one thing that I disliked about the film was the rather forced tropes of detective films that were in there. There had to be a twist antagonist and while I wasn’t even close to seeing the true villain coming, it was so unbelievable that it rather takes you out of the film. Also, the film alludes to a far greater plot that ultimately doesn’t appear. If I was going to complain about any part of the film it would be that the ending was rather lacklustre.
To end, I would like to type a little about the title of the film. Prisoners could be taken literally as there are, expectedly, prisoners. I feel that a lot of the characters were prisoners in a more figurative sense. Gyllenhaal’s character is prisoner to his captain, Jackman is prisoner to his grief and your attention is prisoner to this film.
Prisoners receives an: 8/10
If there is anything of note to take away from this film is that is incredibly gripping. There are multiple sub-plots that all are tightly linked to the main story of the missing girls. In a lot of films, sub-plots are used to vary the pace but often the viewer doesn’t actually want to watch what happens in these sub-plots. In this, however, there is a not a scene that wasn’t powerfully intense and every scene contributed to the overall plot of the film.
There is a definite empathy that everyone could get from this film. Everyone has experienced some sort of loss and been pretty angry about it. If this thing that you had lost was a person who is biologically linked to you then it is surprisingly easy to see why characters do the things they do in this film. This is one of the standout strengths of the film. If looking at the film from a distance, it may seem akin to the Saw series; just a repetition of gratuitous violence. Some of the acts depicted in the film are clearly heinous but I warrant different people would give very different opinions on these acts. The circumstances don’t make the characters seem like awful people but they also don’t make the things they do the obvious solution. That was impressive and squeezed every bit of emotion and tension out of the script.
The score used in the film is also incredible. It’s diverse, being used during scenes of varying moods and tensions, as well as amplifying, sending a normal scene into the realms of gut wrenching desire for the protagonists the succeed. The sound of the score really mirrors the film at large. If you were to play The Candlelight Vigil over shots of the film, not only would have an excellent trailer but that trailer would tell me the exact mood of the film. Sometimes you don’t even notice that the score has leaked into the scene that you are watching. This speaks to the intoxicating gripping power the film possesses and the understated nature of the score.
The one thing that I disliked about the film was the rather forced tropes of detective films that were in there. There had to be a twist antagonist and while I wasn’t even close to seeing the true villain coming, it was so unbelievable that it rather takes you out of the film. Also, the film alludes to a far greater plot that ultimately doesn’t appear. If I was going to complain about any part of the film it would be that the ending was rather lacklustre.
To end, I would like to type a little about the title of the film. Prisoners could be taken literally as there are, expectedly, prisoners. I feel that a lot of the characters were prisoners in a more figurative sense. Gyllenhaal’s character is prisoner to his captain, Jackman is prisoner to his grief and your attention is prisoner to this film.
Prisoners receives an: 8/10
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