PRISONERS

This movie stars Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover, a "christian" family man who is humorless and stern and emotionally projects contraction and the discipline of work without much joy. He has 2 children a teen and a little girl of about 7. The Dover family is neighbors and friends with Terrence Howard (Franklin) and his wife and teenager and girl of 7 years.

The girls disappear while outside and can't be found after several hours of panic'd searching. The cops are called in and the team is headed by Jake Gyllenhaal (Det. Loki). A dilapidated trailer is seen in the area and the driver, played by Paul Dano, is a creepy retarded acting almost mute young man.

Because of his demeanor he is considered a prime suspect but after 48 hours in custody no physical evidence is uncovered and he continues to deny any involvement. So he is released but Keller is hellbent on pulling and shoving and torturing the truth out of this young man. Keller is convinced that the police are making a big mistake and have let the abductor go. So Keller kidnaps him and keeps him in an abandoned building he owns and elicits the aid of Franklin, his neighbor, and beats the shit out of this guy.

And when it looks like another round is going to kill him, Keller devises another form of punishment and torture which is absolutely almost too much to watch on this big screen.

This is going on while Detective Loki is slowly uncovering clues and also investigating the wierd comings and goings of Keller who is highly antagonistic and confrontative to the detective. I can't reveal much more without giving away some of the twists and turns and mystery of what actually happened to these 2 girls and by whom.

The acting was totally superb and it was scary to see Keller's neighbors go along with his plan even though initially they are aghast at the cruelty. but they let themselves become convinced because of Keller's continued rock-hard certainty that this boy was involved.

I thought the last 30 minutes wrapped up too many loose ends and explained too many prior little clues shown earlier on way too fast. Also there were some unbelievable scenes that just didn't seem rational. Jake Gyllenhaal's acting was better than Hugh's because Keller's character was all puffed out manhood "i am right and everyone else is wrong" and the world has it in for me. so it was one dimensional.

But this film kept up the tension and suspense all the way through. Bill got so wrought that he had to get in the hot tub when we got home to relax and he still didn't sleep well.

We both gave it an 8 to 8.5.