Prisoners

A captivating drama in which it wasn't about all the surprises and revelations (the observant viewer receives various clues on an ongoing basis, and it's just up to him or her how to handle them), but rather what they do with the characters. I like films like that. Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal are perfect and I believed absolutely everything they did, and the combination of Villeneuve's directing, Deakin’s camera and Jóhannsson's music once again ensured a million-dollar atmosphere. It was dark, dirty, dense and I'm glad no one made a stretched series out of it, but instead one proper film. (03/02/2019)

Very similar style to Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, just as austere and economical, with utmost emphasis on editing and minimalist musical composition. While that film is more complex and interconnected in terms of screenplay, Prisoners relies on a linear plot and open, long scenes full of emotions, when the camera does not move. It is dense, strong, and uncompromising. However, it is also filmed with sensitivity, with an exceptionally effective ensemble cast. Hugh Jackman gives a great performance. (02/15/2014)

A film about fear, uncertainty, and demons that lurk more or less deeply within each of us. I have considered Villeneuve to be one of the most talented directors of today for some time now, and even though he is capable of creating a better atmosphere, all you need is to watch the scene of the frantic car ride with a blinded driver across the city to realize whose film you are about to see. Similarly, the screenplay presents very decent work in its genre, which is capable of surprising and being original. The creators patiently build tension, anxiety, and a sense of threat, letting their detective stumble and convincingly fulfill the requirements of the thriller genre. For parents, there is no nightmare worse than the disappearance of a child, and the filmmakers spare none of their characters. Without drowning in sentiment, they manage to intensify emotions to the maximum. Another motif strongly resonating throughout the film is the temptation to take investigation and justice into one's own hands. The father of the lost child succumbs to this desire, and the screenwriter finds some justification for torture in the name of higher goals. By my standards, that takes away a star. Of the actors, the most notable is Jake Gyllenhaal, who delivers an outstanding performance and is another reason to devote more than 150 minutes of your time to this crime story. Overall impression: 85%. (07/21/2017)

There are always a hundred and one glitches to grumble about with Villeneuve’s movies; from the unnecessary length, through predictability to occasional idiotic behavior of the characters. But it also applies that these things get under your skin and begin to rot and rot weeks after watching them. And paradoxically the impression from them gradually gets stronger. So much so that after a while they seem much better than they had seemed at the time you watched them. But this doesn’t apply to Prisoners, which doesn’t get under your skin; well, maybe does, but just the atmosphere and nothing else. Instead of feeling uneasy all the way home from the movie theater “whether the sprogs are sleeping snugly in their beds" and then holding them tighter than normally by their hand for a couple of days because “you never know", satisfaction begins to sink in about this solid piece of Fincherism, although still plagued but hundred and one snags. (10/08/2013)

Exactly the type of film that pulls out all the trump cards in the first third, only to dilute them in vain and uneasily mix them. I was looking forward to a slow psychological crime thriller, but over time it breaks down into a one-string litany, from which protrudes Deakins’ excellent camera and the character of Jake Gyllenhaal, who, unlike the others, has the advantage that you basically don't learn anything about him (at least in this way, it’s a little mysterious). The film also fails significantly as a detective story when it dispenses information very inefficiently and fails to justify its excessive length (one revelation involves a senseless number of repetitive and intense dialogues without a deeper meaning). However, the music, the camera and some of the directing moments away from the plot make it a solid film. EDIT 2020: I take it back, it all works brilliantly as a story of insurmountable anxiety and destructive rage. And in fact as a detective story about a spasmatic detective who patiently faces a feeling of inadequacy. (10/10/2013)