Prisoners

The scenes that I remember the most about a movie are the final scenes, the last moment. This is why I can't help but feel terribly disappointed with Prisoners, a movie that keeps the momentum going so steadily for two hours before dropping the ball to an immense degree in the last thirty minutes.

What's up? Hugh Jackman stars as Keller, a father whose daughter disappears on Thanksgiving. His wife Grace (Maria Bello) is devastated and unable to continue to function through life. Keller is frustrated that the enforcements, most notably Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) aren't moving fast enough and their lack of action is resulting in the death of his daughter. When the detectives' biggest suspect, Alex Jones (Paul Dano) is released for lack of substantial evidence, Keller takes the law into his own hands, going far beyond anyone's idea of cruel and unusual punishment to get the answers. Does Alex know where his daughter is located? How much involvement does he have in the disappearance? Is Keller going to far?

What's good? You don't boast a cast full of Oscar nominees/winners without showing the goods. Prisoners' cast thrives in this setting. Hugh Jackman is stellar as Keller, his scenes are full of heartbreak, terror, pure confusion, rage, and vulnerability all at once. He dominates every scene he fills up. Jake Gyllenhaal also gives one of his best performances, his character is the total opposite of Keller. Where as Keller acts with his emotions, Loki acts with his mind, Gyllenhaal gives a great contrast to the dominance through Keller.

Minus the last 30 minutes which I will mention more of in the last paragraph, Prisoners is filled with so much tension you feel like it's going to burst. The scenes with Keller and Alex are pure torture both figuratively and literally, you never know what's going to happen next and when it does Prisoners will stun you with how far it goes and how far Keller will go to get answers. The beautiful and haunting, yet grimy and dark looking visuals add to this tension, making you feel like you're really watching someone's nightmare come to life.

What the fuck? The final thirty minutes of Prisoners is so incredibly disappointing and thrown together you would swear you were watching some movie of the week Syfy creation. The motive behind the kidnapper feels terribly thrown together, said motive and kidnapper being involved also leave several questions unanswered making certain scenes now feel pointless. And what's worse is you never get any resolution here, as Prisoners' final moments bizzarely insinuate a sequel could be involved. There's no pay off here at all.

Overall: Prisoners had all the goods but just didn't know how to tie them up at the finale. It had the potential to be one of the year's best movies but instead of ending strong on all of the promise that you were viewing for the first two hours, Prisoners squanders this opportunity, locking the cell and throwing away the key.

3/4