Review: Prisoners is a
dark, involving mystery. The film is about Keller Dover, a man who will stop at
nothing to get his daughter back after she and her friend are kidnapped.
Meanwhile, police Detective Loki begins to unravel an almost thirty-year-old
mystery as he searches for the two girls.
Director
Denis Villeneuve’s
narrative can be taken as a character drama as the film explores the effects
the tragedy of losing one’s daughter takes on the Dover family and the Birch
family (the parents of the other girl). Detective Loki’s dramatic journey is
also showcased heavily. However, the film works better as a straight mystery.
Villeneuve structures the narrative primarily around the discovery of new
pieces of information, eventually leading the characters and audience to the
kidnapper – fitting the genre norm. The characters are but mere pieces on the
board that Villeneuve moves around to fulfill their narrative roles, divulging
information and making discoveries as they do.
There
is not really a lot of context into who these character are and why they are
the way they are when the audience is introduced to them – it is not necessary
given that this is a detective film and the narrative is driven by the
unraveling of the mystery. But, for this to really work as a character drama (which
at times it seems like it is trying to be), the audience needs more background.
As it is, there is no context for comparison. The audience sees the characters
lead to dark places, what the strain makes them capable of, but for all the
audience knows these characters have always been on the edge, and this
kidnapping is just the tipping point or an excuse and not a full on venture
down uncharted waters.
Keller
Dover both appears very capable and willing to commit the acts that he
undertakes under the guise of trying to find his daughter, but the audience is
also shown moments in which he feels the gravity of what he is actually doing.
But, more than Villeneuve exploring this as a way to tell the audience
something about Dover or to show the audience the journey that he is on, he is
looking at the darkness that all men have within them. The reason that
Villeneuve does not want the audience to know these characters too well, or
have a strong connection to them initially, is so he can present them as just
average Americans who easily accept darkness and evil into their hearts when
faced with tragedy. None of the characters is shown as being noble; there is
only cruelty – every action justified by an even greater perceived evil. This
also enables Villeneuve to do something particularly interesting: even though
Dover’s actions are unforgiving, in the moment the audience is right there with
him because in their hearts, they too believe Alex is guilty (without actual
proof). Thus, Villeneuve asks the audience as well to look inside themselves
and consider what they too are capable of and what their true nature really is
when faced with heightened emotions and circumstances.
All
this leaves Prisoners feeling rather heavy emotionally. Plus, Villeneuve paces
the film very slowly on purpose to drag out the agony to get the attended
emotional response from the audience – a feeling of being emotional drained, as
if there is no light in the world, only shadow, bleakness, and despair. And yet, Villeneuve brings the narrative to
somewhat of a happy conclusion, but he has done such a marvelous job of
dampening the world and humanity it does not really matter. None of these
characters will come away from this the same (and not in a positive way).
However,
while the slow pacing is effective in that it allows Villeneuve to create an
overall tone of despair, the film does feel long at times, which does detract
from the narrative slightly. Villeneuve does counteract this, to some degree,
with great thrilling moments and intriguing story twists though.
Detective
Loki is an interesting character, but the audience never really knows anything
about him. Villeneuve only shows him on the job. The case seems to be taking a
toll on him, more so than maybe it should be, but the audience does not really
know why. He is a loner, has some interesting tattoos, an odd twitch with his
eyes, and seems to be completely engrossed in his job with nothing else going
on. But really, he is just a shell for the audience – a conduit by which the
audience gets clues and unravels the mystery. Loki is almost void of anything
the audience can latch onto and take stock in, and yet at least half the
narrative is spent with him. To some extent, Loki can be seen as the film’s way
of portraying itself as a mystery thriller, while Dover is its more grandiose
narrative endeavor of digging deeper into the core of man – and whether man is
inherently good or evil.
Villeneuve
takes a perverse look at Christian-based religion (or just religion in general
really) as well. The characters that carry out the most evil acts are all
justified (in their own eyes) by God, as are many who have done terrible
things. What does it say about man, and his relationship with God, that he can
know so truly that his actions, no matter how brutal or socially vilified, are
just? And also, what does it say about man’s perception of God that he believes
that his actions are what God wants/intends or that he will be forgiven? In
both cases, man is merely projecting himself onto the idea of God as a means of
justifying or coming to terms with what man has done or is going to do.
Villeneuve presents all of these characters as being morally wrong: the man of
faith who murders a confessed child-killer rather than trying to forgive and
rehabilitate him through the proper channels (assuming that is even possible);
a father who brutally and unforgivably tortures a man he believes to be
involved in his daughter’s disappearance for information instead of leaving it
in the hands of the police; a mother and father who sit by and do nothing to
stop the torture of this man; and a kidnapper/killer who takes children to
reveal to God who people truly are on the inside (as if God would not already
know) – weak, scared, and brutal.
Everything
thematically adds up to an experience that does not look too pleasantly on the
nature of man. Prisoners is a journey into the darkness; and once there, man’s
true form is revealed (much as the kidnapper intended). But, while the film is
emotionally draining and maybe overlong, it is also a very good mystery with
some great thrilling moments that takes a genre that has become quite mundane
and boring in recent years (plagued with by-the-numbers and laughable
plot-twists) and presents something that is wonderfully compelling as a mystery
genre Hollywood film.
Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements:
Denis Villeneuve has really announced himself as a new master of the mystery
genre, a genre that has all but died in contemporary cinema – co-opted by
Hollywood injecting the films with out-of-place big action set pieces or awful
(and stupid) plot twists (see this year’s Now You See Me for an
example). With Prisoners and (more so) Incendies (one
of 2010’s
ten best films), Villeneuve has breathed new life into the genre that when
does right has given cinema some of its greatest and most engrossing moments
and stories. I very much look forward to his next film Enemy.
Prisoners
as a whole has a very dark tone, from the music to the lighting and production
design. Composer Johann
Johannsson’s score accompanies this tone very effectively, in a sense
further pulling any feelings of joy or hope out of the audience. Roger
Deakin’s cinematography captures the tone wonderfully as well. Everything
looks very dreary and muted, especially after the girls are taken. The opening
scenes are full of bright fall colors and the warmth of Thanksgiving, but that
color never really finds its way back into the narrative. Stylistically, the
film sort of has the same look and feel as another great mystery Se7en. Patrice Vermette’s production
design too thematically presents the world as being a dismal scary place,
probably best seen in his sets for Dover’s father’s dilapidated building, the
dirt basement below Father Dunn’s house, the decrepit maze-graffiti-filled
house, and the kidnapper’s dirty, stripped down holding areas. Every creative
aspect of the film works well to fulfill Villeneuve’s intended feel and look.
The
cast is strong throughout. Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, and
particularly Viola
Davis are good in small supporting roles. David Dastmalchian
just seems naturally very creepy and off, which serves him very well here. He
also plays his character with an exciting intensity that pulls all focus. Paul Dano has the
most difficult role in the film as Alex, the man Dover believes is responsible
for his daughter’s disappearance. Dano plays with Dover and the audience. He
appears innocent, but all involved are certain of his guilt as well. His
performance allows the audience to support Dover, regardless of his brutality
(which in turn should evoke questions about ourselves). Melissa Leo is
also very good as Alex’s adoptive mother. She seems beaten down by the world,
but there is something more there too. Jake Gyllenhaal is
quite good, especially given that he is basically playing a shell of a character
as Loki. He brings so much to the role, creating a real person out of nothing. Hugh Jackman as
Dover feels in moments as being rather flat. He basically is just really angry
and yells a lot. But, his performance is deceptively great. There is such
intensity to his energy. He comes off as a tortured soul, not just because of
what happened, but also as a man that has always lived in the darkness.
Summary & score: Prisoners is a great mystery with
some good thrilling moments, but maybe more so it is a very depressing look at
the nature of man and his internal darkness. 7/10
