by Denis Villeneuve. Villeneuve has recently started to become one of the most

acclaimed directors of our generation and that is thanks to some of his works

such as "Enemy", his recent film "Arrival", which nearly reached 10 Oscar

nominations and also in October he will be giving us the highly awaited "Blade

Runner 2049". "Prisoners" is Villeneuve's 2013 film and it stars Jake Gyllenhaal,

one of my favourite actors, alongside Hugh Jackman, Viola Davis, Paul Dano and many

others. "Prisoners" is the story of two very young girls which go

mysteriously missing from their house in Pennsylvania one afternoon. The only odd

thing about this afternoon is the presence of an RV parked outside on the

road in which the two girls were playing just hours before the disappearance and

the driver's reluctance to speak to the police.

Unfortunately the RV doesn't contain any evidence and throughout the plot the

case thickens, proving that even a simple, rural, apparently safe community can

become the scene of an intense manhunt. Hugh Jackman portrays the furious (and

often arrogant) father which refuses to stay put and wait until the system has

found his daughter and decides to take the matter in his own hands, doing

everything possible, including going against the law. In general "Prisoners"

encourages us to try and mentally cross that line between what is legally

right and what we personally consider right. As a matter of fact alongside the

main investigation, other important topics are fury and

revenge. The film also portrays the two points of view on how to handle a

situation of this nature: Hugh Jackman's character is the skeptical guy who

doesn't consider the police as trustworthy as he would like to and

immediately takes the matter in his own hands, becoming hated by everybody

surrounding him. While Terrence Howard and Viola Davis portray the more

cautious couple, patiently waiting for the police to finish their job and also

they appear quite reluctant to take any personal rushed decisions. The film in

general leaves us free to judge, as it also shows the downside of the

characters' choices, of how victims can become perpetrators. So I feel safe to

say that this film is a very creepy analysis of which point

the human mind is willing to reach. If you enjoyed watching films like "Mystic

River", "Zodiac" "Gone Girl" or even "Changeling", I would definitely recommend watching

"Prisoners". It is an awesome, engaging blend of a suspense-filled crime drama

film, with some hints of pure horror. Jake Gyllenhaal did an awesome job at

portraying the lead detective on the case and watching this film made me

realise why I appreciate him so much as an actor. He completely managed to

combine the anger he had towards this case, to who took those girls, the fury in not

being able to find a clue, of the frustration of having to deal with

unbearable stress and uncooperative colleagues, but at the same time trying

to not show this to the public. Also his character at first appears very limited

and simple: your local police detective on a new case. But he isn't like the

others, he isn't like his colleagues. There's something about him, something

about his nearly punk, rebellious attitude and appearance that makes us

believe that something happened in his past,

there is something he's not telling us. He is never shown at home with his

family or friends, he doesn't speak that much if not necessary, never revealing

too much about himself. This is why I really liked Jake Gyllenhaal's

performance in "End of Watch", in which he also portrayed a member of the police

which had to deal with a series of contrasting issues. In general Jake

Gyllenhaal has always been a master at bringing on screen a wide variety of

emotions and a rich and vast range of personalities and minds. From "Donnie

Darko" nearly twenty years ago to the more recent "Enemy", "Nightcrawler", "Nocturnal

Animals". And in nearly all of these films he managed to contain the personality...

...within the character. What I'm trying to say is that in our daily life we don't

usually work out another person's personality and what's going through

their mind thanks to a narrating voiceover. On the contrary we go through

the mind's incredible maze observing a variety of behaviours, gestures,

expressions. And that's what Gyllenhaal is able to do at best: we meet his

characters, we discover them through vast set of details and peculiar features. As

a matter of fact I was quite surprised in meeting his loud and extravagant

character in "Okja", with an appearance and attitude

which spoke for his role. "Okja" also featured Paul Dano, which gave us the

awesome portrayal of Alex, the main suspect in "Prisoners". Often growing up we

heard so many stories about bad people, we were warned to stay away from odd

strangers and nasty men. And in this film you can really tell that everything in

Alex's character is built upon what society would consider.... the scary guy, on

wanting us to hate Alex. So the film plays a lot on disturbing us, on making

us feel uncomfortable. If I really had to point out a flaw without revealing too

much, there were some points in the second half of the film, towards the end,

in which the plot was giving us some quite obvious clues and I would have

preferred it to remain more obscure right until the end. But except for this

detail everything else was absolutely stunning and it really makes me look

forward for the upcoming "Blade Runner". Let me know about your thoughts

regarding "Prisoners" with a comment here below. I hope you enjoyed this video, if

you did remember to subscribe for more movie-related content. See you soon, bye!