Prisoners
*I HATE THAT IT IS 3:45AM AND I NEED TO WATCH ANOTHER FILM TONIGHT SO I CANT MAKE THIS REVIEW AS BIG AS THIS FILM DESERVES IT TO BE.
OVERALL SPOILER FREE REVIEW
This is an incredible dark mystery. Stakes are high and the emotions are much higher. This film is a dark, gritty masterpiece of cinema. From the cinematography to the acting to even just the story, you are constantly fully immersed within the film and what is happening to the characters. Just watch the film.
POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING*
Wow okay so this one has been second on my watchlist for ages now (shoutout Psycho… one day) and I must say that I am so annoyed that it took me this long to watch because this is going on my favourites list and I will forever remember this film as being one of the best mystery films ever made.
First of all I will just talk about the most obvious part of this film which is obviously the mystery. The film constantly has you wondering what is happening and when the film finally reveals something by the line “I’m not Alex” it created way more questions than it answered. Also when the snakes were in the box with the clothes I immediately thought that the killer had locked the girls in tiny crates with snakes to eat them alive which immediately prepared to change my top 4 but it turns out it was part of the killer’s obsession rather than plan. The overall twist that Alex is also a victim of kidnapping and the villain being Holly Jones was great and was a smart way to make you reflect on why Alex was silent throughout the whole film.
Keller was one the most interesting protagonists I have seen as it rises the question of just how much would you do for your child. For him quite a lot. I think it was obvious that Alex was gonna have some form of innocence so that we can reflect on all the torture and pain that Keller had put him through and feel guilt for him rather than a well deserved punishment for a psychopath. Keller has this uncontrollable rage that has him do extreme things even though he doesn’t actually know if he is right. He trusts his gut like a fact which gives you a huge idea on his state of mind during the film.
The acting was incredible mainly from Hugh Jackman’s strong emotion but also from Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as detective Loki. By the way this is the most I have ever seen Jake act (not including Spider-Man Far From Home for extremely obvious reasons) and I must say he is a fine actor and a person I ought to watch out for.
The cinematography was really cool. I loved the shots in Keller’s car where you only see Keller’s silhouette because of the reflection trees being stronger visually. It gave this sense of lost in the woods feeling slowly feeling more literally rather than metaphorically.