A movie free of several faults

Prisoners
English (A)¬¬¬¬
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal

A father generally has a certain deep-rooted protectiveness for his daughter, at an almost cellular level. Prisoners is a moving depiction of this aspect of a father’s nature when his daughter is kidnapped under mysterious circumstances.

Mr Dover (Hugh Jackman), exhaustively distraught over his daughter Anna’s disappearance, decides to take matters into his own hands by shaking down suspects already dismissed by the police.

While Mr Dover raises hell behind closed doors, Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), a capable detective, follows leads end-to-end in a calm and professional manner.

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has fittingly directed Prisoners, his first major English production. The movie is portrayed simplistically; a viewer will easily empathise with Mr Dover’s character so much so that they may get lost in his situation and find themselves in a moral dilemma.

The movie progresses with a slow elegance, and may require patience to be watched. The plot barely raises questions with ideas effectively put across.

With most movies ignoring plot predictability nowadays, Prisoners seems to have made every attempt to counter it and successfully.

The two lead characters are juxtaposed impressively and Jake Gyllenhaal’s acts with an eccentricity that isn’t over-dramatised. Hugh Jackman proves with this movie that if his role doesn’t entail the usage of Adamantium claws anymore, he can wreak vengeance just fine with his fists. His performance is haunting in a plot that can be slightly disturbing. The little violence it contains is highly concentrated.

The movie has few criticisms. To talk of the biggest one, the kidnapper’s motive, perspective and victim’s condition is not as thoroughly told as the Dover family’s story.

However, this lets the plot twist towards the end of the movie, surprising the viewer.
The climax is not definitive, but the end does not leave you hanging the way Inception did.

To enjoy this movie to it’s fullest, you need patience and a movie screen. If tolerance is not your forte, watch it at home where you can hit pause to break.