Prisoners (2013)
What length will you go to save a kidnapped daughter?
Presentation:
Roger Deakins and Denis Villeneuve pair up for a fantastic collaboration showing us why script is everything. Lighting is lovely as always with mostly natural overcast, no special action sequences, and yet we are on the edge of our seats the whole time for this memorable detective thriller. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a somewhat similar detective from Zodiac, this time obsessive and asocial. However I didn't feel his character was as developed as it could have been and he takes more of a bystander perspective for the majority of the film. Hugh Jackman is also morally ambiguous teetering on the lines of torture porn and also not being completely developed either. Characters feel a little distant and this is perhaps due to the pacing of the powerful script, which carries the story despite the performances. There's just not a whole lot of emotional connection with the characters, also partly because the crucial event happens so suddenly. This is the film’s differentiator as it shifts the focus to riveting pacing as opposed to the emotional core.
Conclusion:
A good unpredictable ride with an impressionable ending that should leave you satisfied. This is not like other detective police thrillers, proving that presentation is crucial for this genre. It may be my one of my favorite obsessed detective films along with Zodiac.
Recommendations
Noir sophistication at its finest.