Prisoners Review: A Thrilling Time at The Movies

A crime has been committed and the culprit is Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners. The French Canadian director leads an all star cast in this crime thriller; which gained the attention of many moviegoers.. Already Prisoners is getting praise from critics everywhere; but does the crime thriller live up to the early reviews?

The story of Prisoners centers around a case of two missing girls. When Anna and Joy disappear on Thanksgiving, their families do everything in their power to look for them. It comes to the point where Keller Dover, played by Hugh Jackman, abducts and torture suspect Alex Jones. With Detective Loki, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, on the case, everyone involved will discover there is more going on then just a mere kidnapping.

Prisoners features a compelling plot that's not hard to follow. You will be guessing all the way through the 2 hour and 33 minute run time.  As a crime story goes, Prisoners is straight forward; but that does work for the movie. Nothing in the story feels it takes you out of the film; nor is there a twist there for the sake of being a twist. Everything in the plot fits, giving Prisoners a story fitting of the genre.

While Prisoners has a massive ensemble, the show-stealers are the leads: Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllehaal. While I can't say Hugh Jackman had a ground breaking performance, he still brought his charisma to Keller; creating one dynamic role for the actor. The same applies for Gyllenhaal's Detective Loki; though this is definitely one the actor's best roles in sometime. While the rest of the cast did not have monumental performances, they still fit and gave Prisoners a ensemble to be proud of.

What got my attention was the world of the movie. Denis Villenueve's direction in  the cinematography was perfect, giving Prisoners a realistic tone. That and the direction in some of scenes was awe-inspiring. The sequence of Detective Loki driving through traffic was tense and quite possible one of the best shot car scenes I've seen in a while.

Prisoners is everything a fan of crime films can hope for. The movie is tense and it keeps you guessing all the way through. Even if you are not shock by the twists in the film, you will be impressed by the movie's execution. Yes , Prisoners did commit a crime, and that crime was capturing this critic's approval.