Watched 'PRISONERS' last night which has Jake Gyllanehalenal in it (he's in a lot of stuff!) and Hugh Jackman and other good actors like Terrence Stamp and Maria Bello who you might mostly remember from the cheerleader scene in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE which would probably have made your willy interested, if you have a willy.
So then, PRISONERS, which clearly wants to be taken very seriously and considers itself to have a MESSAGE, turns out to be not that amazing at all. It meanders around for over two and a half hours - (which is the sort of length that gets on my tits unless the film in question is properly fucking amazing, off the top of my head Scorsese is one of the very few directors who can get away with it) - and never quite achieves the lofty heights it thinks it does.
Quote:
QUICK PLOT SYNOPSIS - PRISONERS, from Oscar nominated director Denis Villeneuve, stars Oscar nominees Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal in a story that poses the question: How far would you go to protect your child? Keller Dover (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 (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. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?
It's not a bad film, I'm going to give it 6/10, Jake Guacamole is fantastic as usual, Jackman is great as the father, in fact the whole cast are excellent in fairness, and if they weren't so good the film would founder badly IMO. It's also beautifully shot, I believe the cinematographer is the same one that the Coen brothers often use.
For my money it all gets a bit preposterous towards the end, and despite Jake Glylanyualen being this super-amazing detective (who has apparently NEVER FAILED TO SOLVE A CASE) he just sort of stumbles over stuff all the time and doesn't solve much at all. And ultimately, I know that torture is wrong, I don't need to watch a sermon about it.
Oh yes it's quite violent too, it originally got an NC-17 and needed to be cut a bit to get an R.
6.5/10 - I have given it an extra half a mark since before because it did stick with me a bit.