Review: Prisoners

Prisoners plays like David Fincher lite. The film owes a lot to Seven and Zodiac. That isn't a bad comparison and Prisoners almost comes close to those great films before falling apart in its final act. The film is more entertaining that one might imagine from the trailers.

Prisoners follows two young girls who go missing, the parents who are left to process what happened, and the detective who is on the hunt for them.  Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but a lack of evidence forces the only suspect's release. Knowing his child's life is at stake, the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

During the first hour, the film is absolutely riveting. The characters are given realistic details that help make them feel fleshed out quickly. The film raises many moral questions in its first two acts. How far should someone go in this situation? When do you try to stop them? The films looks at several points of view from the enraged father to the cop trying to do his job and not fail. The film balances all of these characters and their points of view wonderfully.

The third act is where the film nearly undo's all of its previous triumphs. The screenplay feels the need to give us a black and white scenario of good vs evil rather that continue to explore the grey areas it did in the first half. We are given a silly bad guy who's motive is unclear at best. Throwing together a pseudo-religious explanation, the film stays exciting while losing all of its nuance. This means most audiences will enjoy Prisoners but fans of mysteries and crime stories will be let down by the lack of an explanation for the kidnapper.

Had Prisoners stuck to the characters and their moral dilemmas, the film would have been one of the year's best. Jackman has never been better and the whole cast shines. The film is also beautifully shot and the score matches the feel of the film well. It's a shame the writers felt a need to go conventional in the final act. The film becomes increasingly silly and overblown when a quieter and desperate ending was needed.