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Prisoners 2013 ★★★★
Prisoners is a solid thriller about the kidnapping of two little girls.
It stars Hugh Jackman, but to be clear: the tough, heroic Wolverine is miles away. Here, he is a desperate father, willing to go all I spit on your grave on a mentally challenged fellow who is suspected of the crime. The other lead is Jake Gyllenhaal, in a good role as the empathic, obsessed cop. Remarkable and funny: Even in a dark(ish) thriller like this one, he manages to sneak in a little bit of boyish charm in his first scene.
Also, on a side note: the fact that a mentally challenged character is called Alex Jones... Is that funny or does that make me the victim of a government conspiracy? Maybe something in the tap water, lol.
The story is set up well and moves along at a good pace. Dropping little snippets of information every now and then to keep you invested, with among others a nice parallel between Jingle Bells and Camptown Races from The Stepfather. And whenever Alex says more than just yes or no, you better keep your ears open. Maybe they should have gone a bit more into the moral dilemma between the two fathers, but then it might have gotten cheesy.
The final reveal is good and the subsequent shooting are well done and Gyllenhaal rushing to the hospital is suspense orthy of Hitchcock. That said, the final scene with Anna's mother and the moment with the flute seem a bit force and perhaps even unnecessary. As a viewer, you already know that things will not end well for this character in some way shape or form. So why add these two scenes? Because the alternative would too bleak? Perhaps.
All in all a solid thriller/crime film. Worth a watch.
Ps: Completely unrelated, but if Hollywood does a Ravi Coltrane-biopic, Terrence Howard would be a good lead.
Creaturealm: Demons Wake 1998 ★
The lads over at OSW review would/could/should have fun with this, because it goes in the same bin as The Room, Fatal Deviation, Samurai Cop and other so bad they're good movies.
I lasted about 20-25 minutes before turning it off. The dialogue, the sets, the acting, the delivery,... everything looks like and is on the level of a poor porn parody. Even Wood Rocket pays more attention to detail.
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