Prisoners

Denis Villeneuve’s first American film, Prisoners details the chaos and violence that ensues after two small children are abducted one fateful afternoon – with the movie following Hugh Jackman’s frustrated father and Jake Gyllenhaal’s obsessed cop as they attempt to separately solve the case. Villeneuve, working from Aaron Guzikowski’s screenplay, has infused the early part of Prisoners with a palpably ominous and unsettling feel that proves impossible to resist, with the movie’s tense atmosphere heightened by Roger Deakins’ moody cinematography and the uniformly stirring performances. (In addition to Jackman and Gyllenhaal’s powerful work, the movie boasts striking turns from, among others, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, and Maria Bello.) And although the inevitable investigation into the aforementioned disappearance is, initially, quite engrossing, Prisoners, at a running time of 153 minutes (!), suffers from a midsection that is, unfortunately, rife with overlong sequences and needless subplots – which slowly-but-surely deflates the movie’s suspenseful vibe and undercuts the effectiveness of certain spine-tingling moments. The compulsively watchable atmosphere, then, is due mostly to the actors’ stellar work and the growing emphasis on the narrative’s deepening mystery, with the inclusion of several unexpected (and downright shocking) twists in the film’s third act paving the way for an unexpectedly engrossing final stretch. The end result is a striking yet uneven effort that could’ve benefited from some judicious editing, which is too bad, really, given the promise of the movie’s setup and the strength of its powerhouse cast.

*** out of ****