Prisoners

dvd of the week

The daughters of both Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard) are kidnapped, and when Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) doesn’t work fast enough, Keller takes the law into his own hands. This is mostly at the expense of the mildly retarded Alex (Paul Dano), but also on the moral lives of Keller, Franklin and their families. Aaron Guzikowski’s script pushes the audience to switch their allegiances, and it also attempts to misdirect us in the mystery of who actually took the girls. It relies entirely too much on coincidences and classic psychopath movie tropes, but Denis Villeneuve’s direction, Roger Deakins’ cinematography, and the ensemble of great actors turn what is essentially pulp into nearly high art.