Review: Hugh Jackman’s Performance Elevates PRISONERS

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Prisoners (2013) — ***

When it comes to thrillers, there are the ones that feel so thoroughly contrived that it’s hard to accept them as legitimate pulp entertainment. (Think anything adapted from James Patterson or Dan Brown.) Then there are the ones that take themselves seriously enough to engross an audience with the artistry of the pulp narrative that contrivances don’t matter. (Think David Fincher or David Mamet’s films.)

Prisoners is could have easily fallen into the first category, but doesn’t quite commit itself to the genre enough to fall into the second. And though comparisons have been made to Mystic River since the film debuted at the Telluride Film Festival, Denis Villeneuve’s English language debut isn’t nearly as clear cut a revenge drama. No, there’s a subtlety to the character development that plays in tandem with outsized performances, all of which makes this thriller, like Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects from earlier this year, much better than it has any right to be.

The story starts out simply enough. On Thanksgiving, the Dover family heads over to their neighbors, the Birches, for a holiday meal. At one point, the Dover’s daughter and the youngest daughter of the Birches get permission from their parents to go over to the Dover’s house. And the girls never return.

When the police are called an a Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is put on the case, they quickly apprehend Alex Jones (Paul Dano) whose RV was mysteriously parked on a neighborhood street before the girls disappeared. But there’s no evidence that Jones, who has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, took the girls and the girls are still missing. To Loki, he has a greater mystery to solve. To Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), Alex is the only suspect.

At this point, there’s a great divergence in the narrative. All at once, we are watching Loki’s investigation take the twists and turns expected of a genre film like this one, while following Dover’s search for his own answers by way of kidnapping and torturing Jones. It’s Dover’s story that makes the difference here.

As Keller Dover, Hugh Jackman unquestionably give the performance of his career. He has a character that must be played with the hamfisted machismo and uncontrolled rage of a father (and survivalist to boot) dealing with the fact that he could not protect his family. Yet, he must also carry the subtle guilt, despair of a man who has a reason to be concerned with that legacy. Dover’s a recovering alcoholic who, as we learn after one encounter with his son later in the movie, betrayed that family long before the movie starts.

On top of that, Dover’s a devout man, who must have turned to religion as part of his recovery. This fact, further complicates his struggle as he must convince himself that, like hunting for food as he does in the beginning of the picture, his torturous ways have a greater purpose. And Jackman plays this all perfectly.

Dover’s story is exceptional in a film that has a pretty standard crime thriller at its heart. Loki, for example, is a stock character, the savvy, lone wolf detective encumbered by incompetence and bureaucracy. And though brilliantly acted by Viola Davis and Terrence Howard, the Birches have their tragedy made into a mere plot device in Dover’s story. Only Melissa Leo, who plays Alex’s aunt, truly stands out, but that’s mostly because of a conversation she has with Dover over what it’s like to lose a child.

I don’t want to minimize Villeneuve’s achievement here, though. He’s directed a film that, as it progresses, makes the audience bear the weight of the situation as much as Dover. It’s as enthralling a dramatic thriller as you’re ever likely to see in a cinema, one that would almost be called epic were it not for the singular nature of that label.

Of course, I’m referring to Dover because without him and without Jackman’s performance, Prisoners would likely have been dismissed as just another September thriller. Instead we get a sort of miracle: a genre film elevated not by artistically handling its cliches but rather using the strongest dramatic elements to overshadow those cliches.