{"id":26527,"date":"2013-09-23T10:57:17","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T14:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=26527"},"modified":"2013-09-23T10:57:17","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T14:57:17","slug":"prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/09\/prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPrisoners\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I see \u201cPrisoners\u201d as the unofficial kickoff of awards season. Little by little, we\u2019re going to be seeing more movies that rely on critical praise to sell tickets instead of blatant bankability. \u201cPrisoners\u201d deals with heavy subject matter, mostly involving child abduction, so the story has little to offer the blockbuster crowd. It\u2019s not that the film completely eschews commercial success; it boasts an impressive cast including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano. But the film doesn\u2019t promise fun of any kind. It wants you to be moved by its forceful elements and for you to leave knowing that you\u2019ve seen a good movie.<\/p>\n

One dreary Thanksgiving, two children go missing. One\u2019s parents are played by Jackman and Bello, the other\u2019s by Howard and Davis. The safe, reasonable explanations quickly fade away and it becomes apparent that the children have been taken. A cocky young detective (Gyllenhaal) is sent to track down a suspicious RV seen in the area. Behind the wheel is Alex (Dano), a mentally unstable young man who lives with his aunt (Leo). It looks like the police have their man, but the vehicle doesn\u2019t contain any trace of the girls and Alex\u2019s IQ is too low to pull off an elaborate crime with discretion. The police have to let Alex go, but Keller (Jackman) doesn\u2019t think they interrogated him vigorously enough. He takes matters into his own hands.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The angry Keller is the most memorable character in the movie. Distrustful of the police even before they let Alex go, he is determined to take control of the situation. He lets out his rage and aggression often, and yet you still get the feeling he\u2019s keeping a lot bottled up. He interrogates another character claiming to want answers, but he chooses to attack the mouth, which of course would prevent the suspect from giving an answer. Perhaps inadvertently, he has put his own bloodlust ahead of his desire to find a solution and we wonder what kind of price he\u2019ll pay for it.<\/p>\n

Detective Loki is an interesting character in his own right, slowly realizing that he\u2019s not as good as his reputation. They say early in the film that he\u2019s solved every case he\u2019s ever been assigned, but it seems that those were easy cases. Now he has this challenge before him and his competence is becoming more and more questionable by the scene. At one point it looks like he\u2019s botched the case entirely. He\u2019s also learning that he can\u2019t live with himself if he has even one defeat on his conscience.<\/p>\n

The plot takes twists and turns, theories come and go, suspects shuffle around. Alex\u2019s fate is hotly debated, risky since it\u2019s not even clear if the girls have been taken. The characters\u2019 decisions become increasingly inexplicable, and frankly the film tries to fill too many logic gaps by using the characters\u2019 emotional state as an excuse for their irrational behavior.<\/p>\n

I said I see \u201cPrisoners\u201d as the unofficial start of awards season, do I see it as an awards contender? Not in most categories. The mystery is compelling, but it doesn\u2019t break any new ground. Nor does the movie have a look or feel that I don\u2019t think I could get anywhere else. Most of the performances fade into the background as Jackman and the scenery-chewing Leo dominate the movie. Those two I could see getting acting nominations. Jackman is incredibly intense for a guy known for playing a relatively apathetic superhero and Leo has a way-over-the-top style that I find somewhat off-putting, but it won her an Oscar for \u201cThe Fighter\u201d three years ago. I recommend \u201cPrisoners\u201d for people who have been longing for a good serious movie to hold them over until we get better serious movies.<\/p>\n

Two and a Half Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrisoners\u201d is playing at Hershey Cocoaplex. Call 312-1300 for showtimes and other info. The film is rated R for disturbing violent content including torture, and language throughout. Its running time is 153 minutes.<\/p>\n

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I see \u201cPrisoners\u201d as the unofficial kickoff of awards season. Little by little, we\u2019re going to be seeing more movies that rely on critical praise to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}