Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve)

[TGM]

PRISONERS

Director: Denis Villeneuve

imdb

[TGM]

This was pretty much as good as I was expecting. It's a bit long, but it's never for a second boring. And the performances from Jackman and Gyllenhaal are truly great. This one didn't disappoint at all.

Edit: My full review.

[wigwam]

:|

[TGM]

The ending of this movie was great. One of the most satisfying final shots I've seen in a film all year. :\

[Ezee E]

Missed this at Telluride. Still seems weird that it played there to begin with.

It's not great by anymeans, but it kept me guessing, and I was certainly vested the entire way through. It's been a while since we've had a true crime/mystery movie. The late 90's/early 00's had plenty of them because of Seven. I saw a ton of them, and am certainly open for more of them to keep coming.

[plain]

Zodiac for dummies. Easily something I would have loved in my mid-late teens, but that's not really saying much. Sadly, what starts off as pretty decent thriller quickly grows stale as the film's over-reliance on plot and other ridiculous inserts makes this all laughable and just kinda stupid by the end. Deakins' work is top-notch. Same goes for Gyllenhaal, whose consistent run of performances continues here as he plays one of the film's few believable characters. Plays mostly like a cheap airport novel. Villeneuve still isn't for me, though I really like Maelstrom and am looking forward to Enemy. Paul Dano remains the worst; a lot of Jackman yelling and screaming, etc. It all grows quite tiring and not in a good way.

[Raiders]

Zodiac for dummies. Easily something I would have loved in my mid-late teens, but that's not really saying much. Sadly, what starts off as pretty decent thriller quickly grows stale as the film's over-reliance on plot and other ridiculous inserts makes this all laughable and just kinda stupid by the end. Deakins' work is top-notch. Same goes for Gyllenhaal, whose consistent run of performances continues here as he plays one of the film's few believable characters. Plays mostly like a cheap airport novel. Villeneuve still isn't for me, though I really like Maelstrom and am looking forward to Enemy. Paul Dano remains the worst; a lot of Jackman yelling and screaming, etc. It all grows quite tiring and not in a good way.

This. Almost exactly. Though for Villenueve, I have only seen this and Incendies, and I could not stand the latter.

[Rowland]

I'll third those thoughts. Furthermore, like most airport novels (and their film adaptations), its pretensions come across as especially risible in the context of such hackwork, despite the best efforts by everyone involved to invest the material with funereal import. I haven't seen Incendies, but this isn't what I was expecting from the same director of the really-kinda-great Polytechnique, which explored greater nuances (intellectual, emotional, formal) in literally about half the running time as this.

[

Show Spoiler

Did anyone else make the connection between the missing Uncle and the corpse in the sex offender priest's basement? I made the connection pretty early on, so while I still had to puzzle over how the red herring would be resolved, the final revelations didn't exactly catch me off guard.

]

[wigwam]

[

Show Spoiler

Did anyone else make the connection between the missing Uncle and the corpse in the sex offender priest's basement? I made the connection pretty early on, so while I still had to puzzle over how the red herring would be resolved, the final revelations didn't exactly catch me off guard.

]

yup same here, makes it a very long movie to sit through watching people not know something obvious

[Mal]

yup same here, makes it a very long movie to sit through watching people not know something obvious

I still enjoyed it despite this. Gyllenhaal's performance is my favorite male performance of the year so far- had he not kept his composure opposite Jackman (who was both good and not so good at the same time), I would have checked out of this film early on. Learning all the pieces to get to the conclusion I gathered early on paired with Jake's performance kept me engaged and entertained.

[Morris Schæffer]

Looks fabulous, and I found myself invested all the way through. The acting is great, but for every standout scene where I think Jackman is doing the best work of his career, there's another where he's overdoing it ever so slightly. One day after, and i'm no longer as enthusiastic about the plotting. Parts of it feel convenient and haphazard. Had Loki never [

Show Spoiler

stumbled across the inebriated priest, he probably would never have found the mummified corpse in the basement. Usually the trick with the refrigerator (or any other piece of furniture) occurs later in a movie when the cop is zoning in on the killer, but rarely this early. Furthermore, it succumbs to the foible of important characters who are clearly capable of speech, but refuse to share anything, besides gibberish, because if they did there'd be no mystery, no movie.

]

@Rowland: yup, it's a bit predictable sometimes. My GF ruined it also, she's a much better cop than Gyllenhaal. When loki [

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knocks on the door of the scrawny kid, the one with the boxes full of snakes, the minute the door opens and the inside of the door reveals the labyrinth drawn or etched on it, she made the connection with the necklace worn by the corpse in the basement. I had long forgotten about that.

]

[Qrazy]

It baffles me when people pat themselves on the back for figuring out plot points when the movie is feeding you information to unravel the plot. Congratulations, if you got it then you were paying attention.

[

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Anyway this was pretty good as escapism, felt like a South Korean thriller but less grotesque. As a statement on anything it pretty much fails though. There are too many contrivances and too many foolish actions. Would those cops really go into the room with the suspect with their weapons? Would Hackman discover the killer only to turn his back on her? There's also no thematic follow through, no serious repercussions for the acts of cruelty.

]

[Izzy Black]

Had Loki never [

Show Spoiler

stumbled across the inebriated priest, he probably would never have found the mummified corpse in the basement. Usually the trick with the refrigerator (or any other piece of furniture) occurs later in a movie when the cop is zoning in on the killer, but rarely this early.

]

How is this an objection to the plotting exactly? I found it more effective that it was just one of many clues that didn't become particularly relevant until later. That's far more realistic. Not sure I see where your concern is.

[Irish]

Far too long, but if they made it shorter it'd feel like an episode of Law and Order meets Lifetime TV movie of the week (or the aforementioned airport novel). Worse: Hawaii Five-0 did a story very similar to this one last season.

I can buy coincidences early on (the priest's basement), but not in the last 10 minutes.

[

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If Loki hadn't, somewhat randomly, decided to walk into Melissa Leo's house at the end, he never would have found the kid.

Hated that Leo turns into a Talking Villain with Wolverine there at the end. Awkward exposition dump. The movie tries to include some religious overtones, but thematically it's just a failure.

Hated the frantic car ride at the end. (Is Loki's radio broken?) Fucking movie is so long already, why drag this moment out? After showing the kid alive onscreen, they're not gonna kill her now. Sheesh.

One last nit: Liked Paul Dana, but never believed anyone could take that amount of physical abuse and not give up Leo. The guy is tortured for close to a week and still talks in riddles? Bullshit.

]

Also hated how manipulative the premise was, and am getting a little tired of these moody, kidnapped/dead kid stories (cf The Killing, Broadchurch, etc).

Enjoyed it for the pacing & the performances, both of which make an otherwise dumb story work.

[Izzy Black]

I agree it unwinds terribly at the end, but I actually really liked the car ride scene. It reminded me of a similar scene in We Own the Night. I still thought she might die so the tension definitely worked for me.

Pretty much agree about everything else, but I think I liked the first half and overall feel of the movie more than you.

[Qrazy]

If Loki hadn't, somewhat randomly, decided to walk into Melissa Leo's house at the end, he never would have found the kid.

Well, they did kind of lay the groundwork for Jake having an unstoppable itch to randomly break into peoples houses. Best cop eva amirite?

[EvilShoe]

Same as Ezee E: worked as a throwback to those 90s thrillers for me. Kind of surprised it ended up being just that, after all the initial hype. There are moments when the movie appears to be heading into darker territory and reach for thematic value, but in the end: [

Show Spoiler

The Vanishing

] this is not.

[Ezee E]

It would've been interesting if that suspect had no connection to the crime whatsoever, but that would've put Hugh Jackman too much into dark territory, right? And also too much faith in the police?

[Grouchy]

I disagree with most of you guys. This was a pretty engaging thriller. Shades of The Vanishing throughout, but mostly as thematical inspiration. I don't believe the film tries to be anything but nail-biting suspense, and in that sense it works. That said, the unsung hero of the production is Roger Deakins. His cinematography contributes 90% of the atmosphere.

Also disagree that Gyllenhall is in any way better than Jackman in this. It's pretty much Wolverine's best performance that I know of, while Jake... He manages to look somber and blink a lot.

[Skitch]

Good movie for sure...but I bet at least ten minutes of this could have easily been cut.

[Dukefrukem]

Great cast. Good thriller / mystery. This certainly ranks among the good films you watch once. Just once.

[Skitch]

Agreed. Great film, great performances, probably never watch again. I got it.

[Peng]

My first-watch gratification, at getting a legit mystery film in a good long while, now gives way to a recognition of this being written by the guy who also did Contraband and the Papillon remake. Grim drama of the first half and pulpy silliness of the second aren’t necessarily bad on their own, but mushed together they clang violently, leading to a very deflating plotting in the tail end.

Still, in term of Villeneuve’s directorial effort, this ranks just behind Sicario for me, and the two leads are very good (I know Jackman is divisive, but between this and his Wolverine, I find he taps into uncontrollable id rage so well). Also, I will probably always have some fondness for this, because it’s the first time that I became aware of, and was interested in, a cinematographer behind a film, sparked by the scene of police approaching Dano’s van in the rain, and clinched by that climatic rush to the hospital. I may have added one point in my rating from how Deakins makes it look so dazzling throughout alone. 7/10