[u]JACK[/u] [u]FAVELL[/u] wrote:I saw the movie Prisoners last night...It was very well done. It certainly had a different trajectory, story wise..."
This was the best film I've seen in the past five years. Besides the 40's, it made me think of films I've seen in the deep 70's - hard hitting dramas. Character dramas.
It really had that early seventieslook and feel, I felt a spiritual connection to The Deer Hunter, but also to Serpico/Badlands/Taxi Driver. Dark dark dark. It made me hate brown because of the subject matter. And rain. And wood paneling. AAAAAAH!
My eyes never left the screen. What's gonna happen? I loved those muted colors of fall and winter. It was an excellent story. I reveled in the drama of it. The circumstances were harrowing...got me in the pit of my stomach. And the moment it switched to the little girl's p.o.v. crikey! The terror and uncertainty and the not knowing what's happened.
The story was brilliant. You are right - although there actually wasn't a lot of action, you couldn't look away for a second. So suspenseful.
You'll have to tell me the "On Dangerous Ground" reference. I can't quite say I saw that. Give me a hint.
The first scene where Hugh Jackman has Paul Dano in the old dilapidated apartment building actually made me suck in my breath, the recognition of Robert Ryan's scene was so strong. I'd even be willing to bet that Jackman was framed in the screen exactly like Ryan is when he does his "Why do you make me do it?" stuff, you know, shot from slightly below the waist to give him the feeling of power gone mad? Then, Jackman actually says something like, "I don't want to do this, but you've made me." It struck me forcibly. At that point, I think I was so dreading what he was going to do to that kid that I took myself out of the movie to notice it.
I did see the excruciating moral decision facing both sets of Dads. The head of the family. The one that protects everyone...helpless. I liked the slow pace of the film, how it took its time to unfold the plot, to develop each character. It had me on the edge of my seat.
The depth of the characterizations was incredible, right down the line. It's what made the movie worth watching. Even the teen brother and sister were excellent. Jackman was a dad on steroids, and everything was tied up in his role as protector. He had to learn to be helpless.
You mentioned the cast. Oh boy...that cast. All of them my favorites who fall under my radar sometimes and then when I see them, BOING! It was Hugh Jackman's movie all the way. Fear helplessness rage retribution. But then there's the cop, Jake Gyllenhall. Dogged, determined, methodical. Like Colombo...with tatooes. It always seemed like something else was on his mind. What do you suppose preoccupied him? All alone on Thanksgiving.
I think what preoccupied him was the case at first, because the parents for him were a distraction rather than a help. He and the dad were of the same type, dogged individuals who are somewhat outside the system. Poor Gyllenhaal was trying to work within that system, but he was getting it from every side, mostly from his boss who was an ass. I got the feeling that he felt if he could just get some peace and quiet, and a little cash sent his direction from dept. heads, he would be able to solve the crime. Both he and the dad had serious issues about what it is to be a man. I think what he ended up being preoccupied with was enormous guilt, hence the blinking, the facial tic. I think every time someone says to you, "It's YOUR fault my daughters are dead" it has a psychic effect, even when you know on a purely logical level that the parent is saying that to assuage his OWN sense of guilt in the matter. If both he and Jackman could have bent just a little, and seen the other as human, they would have found the kids a lot sooner, and he would have been there to help Jackman when he went down the rabbit hole. Then again, every person in the film saw somebody else as sub-human.
Terrence Howard. Torn to shreds about his daughter, but wracked with guilt at Jackman's tactics. Actually wanting them and hating them at the same time. If I had one bone to pick with the movie is that we could have seen just a tad more of Howard's anger and toughness with Jackman ( see him in "Dead Man Down" and he'll show you that cold S.0.B. side of him. ) But his being conflicted worked too. Maybe we could have seen a bit more of Howard and the great Viola Davis at home and their reaction privately as parents. We always seemed to focus on Jackman's feelings and p.o.v.
I certainly agree with you about seeing more of these two great actors. I actually liked Howard's weakness and waffling in the story. I was shocked by it, almost as much as Jackman's attitudes. And then I was BEGGING in my heart that Viola Davis would go to the cop. When she said, "Let him do what he's going to do" it made me feel sick. It was that variation of human reaction that was so compelling. Like when you hear about WWII and the variations of criminality or guilt involved - those who did the dirty work and then those who watched but DIDN'T get their hands dirty, and then those who collaborated, and finally those who turned a blind eye to the murder of millions.
Ahhhh Maria! I just love an actress named Maria...Bello. She's one of my faves ( "A History of Violence." )
Maria Bello has been on my radar since that little Vegas movie with William H. Macy. I forget the title. She's a hell of an actress. You could hardly recognize her by the end of this picture, she was so bloated and sick looking. Again, could have used more of her, but her reaction was what I might do in her situation.
And Viola Davis? Ha! Just destined to win an Academy Award one day. Wanted to look in to Pandora's Box and face the Devil itself; the pitiable Devil. She is one of today's finest actresses.
I agree. One of my friends called her Alfre Woodard.... ouch... and yet, I do see why, because they are both fearless powerhouse actresses of the very finest kind who completely inhabit a role.
The unnerving Paul Dano. He wouldn't or couldn't talk and explain himself. I had an inkling about him. Melissa Leo astonishes me. A fine fine character actress. Don't be surprised if she's nominated.
That poor kid. I know he was messed up, but man. My friends had that inkling too. I thought for sure he was innocent, but of course, in this movie, no one was innocent, not even the two little girls, who were supposed to go get their big brother to take them to the house. Dano was heartbreaking, as was the other suspect/victim. Horrible, and all the more horrible because you KNOW this stuff is something that could happen every day in the good ol' USA.
How right and wrong can become skewed. You hit it straight on the head with that comment. What does one do with that? Caught between a rock and a very hard place. Jackman's willing to go deep and do whatever it takes to get his daughter back. The movie threw out tidbits of clues and I just loved how it unfolded and wound in on itself. Sometimes more than the kidnapped are held prisoners.
Oh yeah, that's perfect, how you said that. He was a prisoner of his past just as his baby was a prisoner of someone else's past. It all comes down to what you lived as a kid. What I found interesting in Jackman's character was how hard he fought to make it everyone else's fault, because he HAD to keep that "protector" vision of himself. He had to DO, he had to take it all on himself, and for a while, I don't think it was for the kids necessarily, but for his own peace of mind. He had to put it on others because otherwise he'd be left with only himself, facing his own guilt and vulnerability. But then again, if he hadn't needed that role of protector so bad, his girl would have died.
Loved the ending. Red Whistle.
