Robert MCcormac
There comes a time when you see a film that is so vivid, and has a story so strong that you talk about it for days after leaving the theater. Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve is exactly that film. It’s a modern suspense thriller acted to incredibly realistic with such passionate performances that it’s hard not to believe this is just one really good dramatization. The film features, Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Melissa Leo. From the very start of the film you can tell it’s riddled with motifs, purposefully shaky camera, and an ending that will leave you guessing and google searching for days.
Prisoners is a story about two girls who get abducted. It’s a whodunit tale, that becomes a web of who really is the bad guy, and what kind of humanity do we lose to get back the ones we love. The biggest motifs in this film stretch off of this idea. When we meet Keller Dovermen played by Hugh Jackman he is a religious man, he’s Christian, he seems to be a little bit of a hoarder, he says. “I’m always prepared for anything that’s going to happen.” So seeing a man who’s always prepared have something happen to his family that he couldn’t possible prepare for throws him off balance. This idea of religion is spread throughout the entire film, We see Mr. Dovermen lose his religion to find out what happen to his daughter. But we also see Melissa Leo’s character lose her’s too. We see that these girls are kidnapped because of religion, because of the hate her character has for God.
When we first meet Detective Loki played by Jake Gyllenhaal, the camera is always still, It’s never shaky. He’s always calm and level headed no matter what happens, I believe this was done on purpose to show an outsiders point of view on what it’s like trying to find a lost child. While after Mr. Dover loses his child anytime the Camera is on him it starts to shake, It was done to show the emotion and anger behind his character the pain and confusion. Close up shot’s are important for this film, Denis Villeneuve almost makes a fool of his audience by showing them close up shots on seemingly unimportant things yet they’re dyer to the telling and lore of this story.
Humanity and Morality is a central theme in prisoners too, Mr. Dover abducts Alex and viciously beats and tortures him for days, It symbolizes the loss of humanity he is going through because he lost his daughter to this man who he thinks is guilty. Melissa Leo’s character also lost her humanity when her son died of cancer now she takes it out on the world by killing children.
Prisoners is a fantastic story of betrayal, murder, and suspense. It’s filled with beautiful shots, and bizarre imagery. This story is one that will be remembered for years for it’s telling of a father doing whatever he possible can do to save his daughter.
Jessica Maiorano
From beginning to end Prisoners puts the viewer into the life of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the unsolvable case to find Keller’s missing his young daughter, Anna, and her best friend, Eliza, that go missing thanksgiving night. As the number of days that Keller Dover does not have his whole family back together, the anger and devotion to his family becomes more powerful. As Detective Loki starts to get closer to solving the case an unexpected twist pushes him back to where he started.
With the use of wide and full body shots, the camera angles almost makes it feel as if the viewer is the kidnapper watching the story unfold. The camera is far away from the action on screen and the viewers are far away from solving the case. There are only a few shots in the movie that are close up and there are only a few moments in the film where the viewers are close enough to figuring out who the secret kidnapper really is.
Even the sound in the film is filled with confusion and significance. The sound in the film is used to establish how the viewer is supposed to feel at that moment. A frightening noise is in the background of almost every scene. The scenes where background noise was not present is when the viewer was forced to pay attention to what was happening on the screen.
Writer Aaron Guzikowski and Director Denis Villeneuve used the character Alex Jones (Paul Dano) as an element to repeat symbols and phrases that uncover throughout the movie to keep you questioning and wanting more. Alex Jones is the main suspect for the crime. Everything Alex says was used to get one step closer to Emma and Eliza. For example in the scene where Alex was released from the holding cell, He says “They did not cry until I left him.” Which means he was part of it but we do not know why he was and who took them away from Alex. That scene releases Kell Dovers anger, confusion and motivation he had towards the whole situation.
Prisoners takes a different spin on an average thriller film filled with uncertainty and unique components. All main and supporting characters portray captivating emotions that puts the viewer into the story. With a setback of the film being almost three hours long every detail and element comes together to create this unforgettable film.
Maria Latorre
The Normal kidnapping movie bring us to a sense of safety, showing the normal rhythms of a family or and life that will soon be shattered; but the movie Prisoners Produced by Denis Villeneuve’s does not go down the same path. Better yet it opens within the forest as it’s snowing, where then you see a deer looking around for food. You then see a shotgun barrel and hear a prayer being said. The you hear the shotgun fired and then deer goes down. Then you see the camera pulling back to reveal a son (acted out by Dylan Minnette) and his father (acted out by Hugh Jackman) look at their kill through the ranks of bare trees. On the way home the father started lecturing his son on how to alway be prepared for the worst things in life.
The beginning of the movie was heavy-handed that it was really amazing that the film doesn't instantly go under its weight. This was shot by Roger Deakins, regular cinematographer for the Coen Brothers. The movie was drained of color and it was always raining. The aspects of “Prisoners” are very effective, but most of the parts it’s a bit ridiculous. There was also an overwrought quality in a lot of the acting.
The Father Keller Dover (acted out by Hugh Jackman) is a contractor who lives his life out with his two kids (a older boy and a little girl) and his wife Grace (Maria Bello) in a suburban neighborhood. On Thanksgiving day, the Dovers go to dinner with the neighboring family who also have two kids the same age (They both are girls) their father is Franklin Birch and the mother is Nancy Birch (acted out by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis). The parents are having a nice time talking and drinking wine in the living room, The two little girls ask them if they can go out and take a walk, but in a little amount of time they ended up disappearing. Panic breaks out, especially when it becomes clear that a creepy RV, that was parked in the neighborhood earlier, has vanished. They called the police which then gives the case to a detective known as Loki (acted out by Jake Gyllenhaal).
They soon find the RV’s owner, Alex Jones (acted out by Paul Dano) who is taken in for questioning. After looking inside the RV forensics say that it’s clean of physical evidence, but the owner Alex is a really strange man. It isn’t inconceivable to think that he may be hiding something about what happen to the little girls. Well this is Dover’s take, and he and Loki start to butt heads about the course of the investigation. Due to the lack of evidence Jones was released into the custody of his aunt (played by Melissa Leo). Since Dover didn’t see anything happening he took it into his own hands and kidnapped Jones. He holds him hostage in an abandoned dilapidated building. Franklin Birch was then looted in on what Dover was plan to beat the truth out of Jones. Birch ignored his own moral compass in the face of Dover’s Furious certainty, when he gets sight of Jones tied to a sink. This is an important point of the script; How certainty can easily override any doubt with sheer force, and also how doubt is often essential to maintain our own humanity.
Dover has a veritable arsenal in his basement that his family could withstand a mustard gas attack as well a a Zombie Apocalypse, but he could not protect his daughter on a simple walk through a very safe neighborhood. He is very convinced that Jones is the person that kidnapped the two girls. He was blinded to any other possibilities.
Jake Gyllenhaal is really great in the film. He had a role that must have looked very boring or interesting on the page. The role was packed with a lot of religious symbols that verges on a sermon. This is excellent in its spare and compelling portrait of Loki. The only time that the image was out of context of his job was in the introductory scene. That was when he was eating Thanksgiving dinner in an empty, Fluorescent-lit Chinese restaurant as it was raining outside. The only thing that we learned about his past was that he was raised in a foster care and a boys’ home. There are a lot of crazy/weird people in the film “Prisoners”, and if the Loki wasn't a cop/detective then he would also be considered a bit crazy/weird. This was a really good performance from Jake Gyllenhaal.
The house looked gloomy dull and very cramped. This gave you a feeling/view of a correlative for the idea of people that are cut off from one another, but when the plot goes into high gear and we get to see other suspects, other basement lairs and a glimpse of vast conspiracies,”Prisoners” ends with you still hanging to find out if the father Dover was found.
There comes a time when you see a film that is so vivid, and has a story so strong that you talk about it for days after leaving the theater. Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve is exactly that film. It’s a modern suspense thriller acted to incredibly realistic with such passionate performances that it’s hard not to believe this is just one really good dramatization. The film features, Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Melissa Leo. From the very start of the film you can tell it’s riddled with motifs, purposefully shaky camera, and an ending that will leave you guessing and google searching for days.
Prisoners is a story about two girls who get abducted. It’s a whodunit tale, that becomes a web of who really is the bad guy, and what kind of humanity do we lose to get back the ones we love. The biggest motifs in this film stretch off of this idea. When we meet Keller Dovermen played by Hugh Jackman he is a religious man, he’s Christian, he seems to be a little bit of a hoarder, he says. “I’m always prepared for anything that’s going to happen.” So seeing a man who’s always prepared have something happen to his family that he couldn’t possible prepare for throws him off balance. This idea of religion is spread throughout the entire film, We see Mr. Dovermen lose his religion to find out what happen to his daughter. But we also see Melissa Leo’s character lose her’s too. We see that these girls are kidnapped because of religion, because of the hate her character has for God.
When we first meet Detective Loki played by Jake Gyllenhaal, the camera is always still, It’s never shaky. He’s always calm and level headed no matter what happens, I believe this was done on purpose to show an outsiders point of view on what it’s like trying to find a lost child. While after Mr. Dover loses his child anytime the Camera is on him it starts to shake, It was done to show the emotion and anger behind his character the pain and confusion. Close up shot’s are important for this film, Denis Villeneuve almost makes a fool of his audience by showing them close up shots on seemingly unimportant things yet they’re dyer to the telling and lore of this story.
Humanity and Morality is a central theme in prisoners too, Mr. Dover abducts Alex and viciously beats and tortures him for days, It symbolizes the loss of humanity he is going through because he lost his daughter to this man who he thinks is guilty. Melissa Leo’s character also lost her humanity when her son died of cancer now she takes it out on the world by killing children.
Prisoners is a fantastic story of betrayal, murder, and suspense. It’s filled with beautiful shots, and bizarre imagery. This story is one that will be remembered for years for it’s telling of a father doing whatever he possible can do to save his daughter.
Jessica Maiorano
From beginning to end Prisoners puts the viewer into the life of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the unsolvable case to find Keller’s missing his young daughter, Anna, and her best friend, Eliza, that go missing thanksgiving night. As the number of days that Keller Dover does not have his whole family back together, the anger and devotion to his family becomes more powerful. As Detective Loki starts to get closer to solving the case an unexpected twist pushes him back to where he started.
With the use of wide and full body shots, the camera angles almost makes it feel as if the viewer is the kidnapper watching the story unfold. The camera is far away from the action on screen and the viewers are far away from solving the case. There are only a few shots in the movie that are close up and there are only a few moments in the film where the viewers are close enough to figuring out who the secret kidnapper really is.
Even the sound in the film is filled with confusion and significance. The sound in the film is used to establish how the viewer is supposed to feel at that moment. A frightening noise is in the background of almost every scene. The scenes where background noise was not present is when the viewer was forced to pay attention to what was happening on the screen.
Writer Aaron Guzikowski and Director Denis Villeneuve used the character Alex Jones (Paul Dano) as an element to repeat symbols and phrases that uncover throughout the movie to keep you questioning and wanting more. Alex Jones is the main suspect for the crime. Everything Alex says was used to get one step closer to Emma and Eliza. For example in the scene where Alex was released from the holding cell, He says “They did not cry until I left him.” Which means he was part of it but we do not know why he was and who took them away from Alex. That scene releases Kell Dovers anger, confusion and motivation he had towards the whole situation.
Prisoners takes a different spin on an average thriller film filled with uncertainty and unique components. All main and supporting characters portray captivating emotions that puts the viewer into the story. With a setback of the film being almost three hours long every detail and element comes together to create this unforgettable film.
Maria Latorre
The Normal kidnapping movie bring us to a sense of safety, showing the normal rhythms of a family or and life that will soon be shattered; but the movie Prisoners Produced by Denis Villeneuve’s does not go down the same path. Better yet it opens within the forest as it’s snowing, where then you see a deer looking around for food. You then see a shotgun barrel and hear a prayer being said. The you hear the shotgun fired and then deer goes down. Then you see the camera pulling back to reveal a son (acted out by Dylan Minnette) and his father (acted out by Hugh Jackman) look at their kill through the ranks of bare trees. On the way home the father started lecturing his son on how to alway be prepared for the worst things in life.
The beginning of the movie was heavy-handed that it was really amazing that the film doesn't instantly go under its weight. This was shot by Roger Deakins, regular cinematographer for the Coen Brothers. The movie was drained of color and it was always raining. The aspects of “Prisoners” are very effective, but most of the parts it’s a bit ridiculous. There was also an overwrought quality in a lot of the acting.
The Father Keller Dover (acted out by Hugh Jackman) is a contractor who lives his life out with his two kids (a older boy and a little girl) and his wife Grace (Maria Bello) in a suburban neighborhood. On Thanksgiving day, the Dovers go to dinner with the neighboring family who also have two kids the same age (They both are girls) their father is Franklin Birch and the mother is Nancy Birch (acted out by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis). The parents are having a nice time talking and drinking wine in the living room, The two little girls ask them if they can go out and take a walk, but in a little amount of time they ended up disappearing. Panic breaks out, especially when it becomes clear that a creepy RV, that was parked in the neighborhood earlier, has vanished. They called the police which then gives the case to a detective known as Loki (acted out by Jake Gyllenhaal).
They soon find the RV’s owner, Alex Jones (acted out by Paul Dano) who is taken in for questioning. After looking inside the RV forensics say that it’s clean of physical evidence, but the owner Alex is a really strange man. It isn’t inconceivable to think that he may be hiding something about what happen to the little girls. Well this is Dover’s take, and he and Loki start to butt heads about the course of the investigation. Due to the lack of evidence Jones was released into the custody of his aunt (played by Melissa Leo). Since Dover didn’t see anything happening he took it into his own hands and kidnapped Jones. He holds him hostage in an abandoned dilapidated building. Franklin Birch was then looted in on what Dover was plan to beat the truth out of Jones. Birch ignored his own moral compass in the face of Dover’s Furious certainty, when he gets sight of Jones tied to a sink. This is an important point of the script; How certainty can easily override any doubt with sheer force, and also how doubt is often essential to maintain our own humanity.
Dover has a veritable arsenal in his basement that his family could withstand a mustard gas attack as well a a Zombie Apocalypse, but he could not protect his daughter on a simple walk through a very safe neighborhood. He is very convinced that Jones is the person that kidnapped the two girls. He was blinded to any other possibilities.
Jake Gyllenhaal is really great in the film. He had a role that must have looked very boring or interesting on the page. The role was packed with a lot of religious symbols that verges on a sermon. This is excellent in its spare and compelling portrait of Loki. The only time that the image was out of context of his job was in the introductory scene. That was when he was eating Thanksgiving dinner in an empty, Fluorescent-lit Chinese restaurant as it was raining outside. The only thing that we learned about his past was that he was raised in a foster care and a boys’ home. There are a lot of crazy/weird people in the film “Prisoners”, and if the Loki wasn't a cop/detective then he would also be considered a bit crazy/weird. This was a really good performance from Jake Gyllenhaal.
The house looked gloomy dull and very cramped. This gave you a feeling/view of a correlative for the idea of people that are cut off from one another, but when the plot goes into high gear and we get to see other suspects, other basement lairs and a glimpse of vast conspiracies,”Prisoners” ends with you still hanging to find out if the father Dover was found.