Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is way better than it looks in the trailer. The trailer seems to
give away all the secrets of the film upfront; it portrays the film as lacking
depth, but in reality, it’s just the trailer that misleads. There is much more
to Prisoners than one may anticipate.
The film stars Hugh Jackman (surprise, surprise) as Keller Dover.
Jackman is having an over-exposure problem at this moment in his career. As
the actor seems to appear in every other film released these days, this creates
questions that shouldn’t exist like, “What is the Wolverine doing in this movie Prisoners?” Nonetheless Jackman delivers a solid, if not dimensional
performance. His energy keeps the movie constantly driving forward.
The film opens with two working class families getting together to
celebrate Thanksgiving. Festivities abound, but while the responsible adults of
the film have their attentions focused elsewhere, their two little girls run outside
to play, unchaperoned. By the time the girls’ absence is noticed, it’s too
late. The girls are gone. They have been taken. The major conflict of the film
then is how to get the girls back alive.
This job falls on Detective Loki, (Jake Gyllenhaal) but when Loki
fails to produce results quickly enough, Keller Dover decides to take the
search for the girls, and for civil justice, into his own hands.
Performance-wise, Gyllenhaal as Loki is the highlight of the film. He maintains
a subtle, calm composure, which contrasts Keller’s (Jackman’s) constant
flying-off-the-rails. Loki shows a certain vulnerability while still being able
to pull off fast-pace action sequences in an authentic, belivable way. He is
very enjoyable to watch.
The actual visual experience of Villeneuve’s films is very
important. His 2010 film Incendies made full use of wide and vast cinematography applied in exotic
landscapes. This visual imagery captivated, but all the technique was there to
serve the story, the plot developments, the characters. Incendies is a masterfully crafted
tragedy and Villeneuve’s commanding technique is evident too throughout Prisoners.
Like Incendies the filters and tones that are applied to the film, as in the
actual visual images on screen, are gloomy and sepia-toned. There’s not a
single sunny sky, a warm day, an orderly room. Sets are designed to feel dark
and empty, the best scenes use sets that play with space, showing both the
abundance of vacant space for some characters, while still emphasizing the feeling
of enclosure felt by others. The use of light and dark, order and disorder, space,
all things that cradle the actors performances, are created by Villeneuve,
expertly.
The suspense of the film continues all the way to the very end as
Keller Dover’s untamed compulsion to find the missing girls leads to a
perfectly executed, nail biter of an ending.
9/10
