A hidden truth. A desperate search.
When you watch the local news, one of the last things you want to see is an unsolved missing child case. Worse than that, is if you’re a parent watching a still picture of your abducted kid on T.V. The overcoming mixture of predominantly negative emotions could drive any mother and father to unthinkable things, in hopes of bringing their baby home. This type of scenario aka a parent’s worst nightmare is exactly what Prisoners plays out, from the detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) who tirelessly looks for two children as if they were his own yet can’t catch a break to the two sets of parents (Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello;Terrence Howard and Viola Davis) who handle the unimaginable stress and anxiety differently to the sick, demented people behind it all.
The film does a good job of setting the tone right throughout with a dull, nondescript color palette, minimal non-diegetic music, and meaningful camera shots. When Gyllenhaal’s character, aptly named Detective Loki (Loci, plural for locus), searches a dark area with his flashlight, the camera switches to a tight 1st person shot to take away any advantage the audience may have over his character in knowing what’s around the corner. And you get a great, exaggerated panning shot of the expansive field being covered by the search party looking for the kidnapped children early in the film. Even the editing-simply blacking out the screen-mirrors the theme of the film, suddenly leaving the action at times and opening up on another scene so that you’re forced to fill in the blanks like Loki. This is a no frills, straightforward film with powerful acting and a mystery/crime driven plot comparable to Zodiac.
As far as the acting is concerned, the film portrays the case very realistically. Gyllenhaal exhibits a consistent tic of blinking emphatically while trying to solve the case and making sure Jackman’s character doesn’t add to his paperwork. Jackman delivers a 2 hour performance of unbridled anger and what seems like at first, all the wrong ways to handle the situation. Terence Howard’s character turns into Dover’s (Jackman) scared “yes man” for most of the film. Dover’s wife, Bello, turns into a pathetic sap beyond empathy from the audience as she continually takes meds from her husband and gives awkwardly uncomfortable monologues filled with tears. Paul Dano, who I remembered from Little Miss Sunshine, fits the quiet, oddball child who ends up being the closest to Dover by the end of the film.
This isn’t the typical suspenseful, kidnapping story you expect. There are enough red herrings and plot twists to hold your interest until the surprise ending. While you may not learn much about the characters themselves, you quickly become attached to one or two, cheering some and badmouthing others, based on their unwavering reactions to the plot development. And the movie is almost worth recommending based on Detective Loki’s brash and hilariously insubordinate behavior towards his superior.
Bryan Hahn (@notupstate)
