Subtitles:

English (SDH), French, Spanish, none

Extras:

No one is likely to miss echoes of the “enhanced interrogation” justifications used by the Bush administration to defend the torture of prisoners. But screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski has upped the ugly ante in the ethical conundrum: First, would you torture a suspect if it meant saving your child? And second, would you torture a suspect who is himself, in a sense, a child?

Amid the trauma of losing a child, the Dovers’ domestic bonds strain: Grace dopes herself with pills, while Keller takes up the bottle he put down nine years before. The Birch family fades into the background after expressing their repulsion for, and unwillingness to stop, Keller’s scheme.

The second, more commercial, strand of Prisoners is a thriller. Villeneuve and his ace team – including the Coen brothers’ cinematographer, Roger Deakins, and Clint Eastwood’s editors, Joel Cox and Gary Roach – provide the rich visual texture and pace to slide us effortlessly through this slippery dark world, past the plot holes and red herrings, into a dream world.

This part of the movie belongs to Jake Gyllenhaal, playing a gaunt loner with a mythological name, Detective Loki, who has a compulsive blink and a creepy neck tattoo. We first meet him at a Chinese restaurant, having Thanksgiving dinner alone and trying to flirt with a waitress, when the call comes through about the missing children. It’s his character’s function to lead us through the grisly puzzle of a serial killer’s plot. When Alex disappears, Loki is not only trying to find the missing girls, but the former suspect as well. Keller and Loki meet, confront each other, and crisscross each other’s paths as they circle around the mystery.

Excerpt from the Globe and Mail located HERE

 

Barring a truly phenomenal fourth quarter, it's hard to imagine Prisoners not being one of the titles among the Best Picture nominees. As mystery/thrillers go, this one falls into the "prestige" area. The screenplay is smart, the execution is impeccable, and the holes are few and far between. Best of all, it lacks the cookie-cutter element that infects too many of these movies. Although I figured out the puzzle before its explicit reveal, I didn't put the final piece into place until shortly before that moment. It's rare that a movie keeps me guessing that long.

As satisfying as Prisoners is from a mystery standpoint, some will find it tough going. The subject matter - child abduction and possible child murder and/or abuse - will make some viewers uncomfortable to the point where they may not be able to watch the entire thing. There are no graphic scenes of child mistreatment but the importance of the topic to the narrative may be upsetting for some viewers. Prisoners isn't a "feel good" experience. It's dark, straying into the territory where David Fincher enjoys spinning his yarns. The presence of Jake Gyllenhaal creates unintentional echoes of Zodiac.

Gary Tooze

May 16th, 2014