Prisoners

An absolutely amazing movie with awesome atmosphere that utilizes its characters, the weather and moods. It completely analyzes the individual details of the situations and the characters themselves. That’s how I like it, and that’s exactly what I get out of American production once every two years, if at all. The first movie I saw that was done with such precision was Seven. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking of while watching this movie. But I’m sorry that I still can’t give it the full five stars. There were scenes where I needed a deeper explanation. And I don’t think there was any time left for that explanation. It was long enough and if it was just ten minutes longer, I probably wouldn’t have managed. Anyway, Hugh Jackman and Jack Gyllenhaal’s acting was really amazing. They both tuned into the roles so well that I saw all the individual nuances that made it different from ordinary acting performances. Hugh becomes a wreck, and Jack’s face ticks get worse and worse by each passing minute, all the way to the finale. A great movie and precise filmmaking. I wish there were more of those. (27/11/2013)

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. (08/10/2013)

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%. (21/07/2017)

There hasn’t been such a good crime film since Fincher’s Zodiac. It has all the necessary ingredients mixed in a balanced ratio: a perfectly bleak, brooding atmosphere (cinematographer Deakins once again reigns supreme), acting sure-footedness where once again – as in Fincher's masterpiece – I loved Gyllenhaal with his beleaguered police figure, and a perfect screenplay that looks like an adaptation of an ingeniously written novel by one of the Nordic authors who reign supreme in the detective fiction genre today. And on top of that the shit-phile called verbal gave it 1*, so I don't know what better recommendation you'd want :o) (17/11/2013)

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. (02/03/2019)