In order to keep you glued to your seats, regular
thrillers often try to bomb every trick mentioned in the rulebook on you, one
after other. Exhaustively pacey narration, deliberately designed twists, in
your face-jaw dropping action, over the top drama and what not…but it all looks
so gimmick-so unreal-so unconvincing when you experience Denis Villeneuve’s PRISONERS.
PRISONERS belongs to the same genre but mainly to a minimal sub-part of it that doesn't believe in all those textbook rules and absorbs your soul in its atmospheric mood and the intensity of the actions. The complex human behavior itself plays so hard as an integral motivator that you don’t feel alienated to what is happening on the screen. It is dark, murky, intricate, violent, layered, riveting and a pure thriller to enjoy-indulge & invade!
When law enforcement agencies [Jake Gyllenhaal as
an out-and-out dedicated police detective] find it hard to book a possible
suspect in a child-abduction case lacking enough evidential proofs, father of
one such girl [Huge Jackman, riding high on emotions rather than showing
muscular strength] decides to take charge in his hands, illegally of course.
But the density in the maze to track down the offender is so thick that even a
far-sighted would need to think twice before guessing who’s behind all.
From the very first frame, film creates a perfect
ambiance for a thriller with the suspenseful chilly-frosty-foggy woods of Pennsylvania
as the base of events. Camera beautifully captures and extracts the mystical
feel from those wooden houses to torch-lit shots used mostly for the dark
places to explore and investigate. But as I have made it clear above, the focus
is always on how human behavior gets adulterated by the heat of the situation
and complexities take over. And to show it better, nothing but the performances
emerge as the winner.
Two towering infernos here are subtle at the most parts but when the break down happens, you should never miss a moment. The way Jake reproaches his supervisor for not being supportive is hilarious. The way Jackman as a helpless father shows his angst and aggravation while torturing the possible suspect in his illegal custody is disturbingly bone-chilling. His hard-to-break instinct to believe that the man in his charge is the culprit they all are looking out for is very contagious.
Two towering infernos here are subtle at the most parts but when the break down happens, you should never miss a moment. The way Jake reproaches his supervisor for not being supportive is hilarious. The way Jackman as a helpless father shows his angst and aggravation while torturing the possible suspect in his illegal custody is disturbingly bone-chilling. His hard-to-break instinct to believe that the man in his charge is the culprit they all are looking out for is very contagious.
The name Denis Villeneuve is
well-associated with the Oscar-nominated incest-thriller INCENDIES. That was a
complete awe-striking movie that takes your breath away with its exceptional
ending. This is not that but still a genre-defying effort.
One or two not-so hard-to crack twists, a slow pace that might work in negative to lose your constant consideration and a little drawn out duration of the film [153 min is quite unseen-unexpected for recent Hollywood movies] could easily be avoided if you have an urge to watch good thriller with performances of first rate. This is definitely season’s best. What ‘THE CONJURING’ did to horror, ‘PRISONERS’ does to thriller! [3.5/5]
One or two not-so hard-to crack twists, a slow pace that might work in negative to lose your constant consideration and a little drawn out duration of the film [153 min is quite unseen-unexpected for recent Hollywood movies] could easily be avoided if you have an urge to watch good thriller with performances of first rate. This is definitely season’s best. What ‘THE CONJURING’ did to horror, ‘PRISONERS’ does to thriller! [3.5/5]
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