Prisoners

For a good part of its running time, this one seems as if it could wind up being one of 2013’s best pictures. Alas, it frays at the end, with a finale as stupid as the rest of the film is gripping. Hugh Jackman delivers a fierce performance as Keller Dover, a survivalist who goes into vigilante mode after his daughter and her friend are kidnapped. When a semi-irritable detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) apprehends a mentally challenged suspect (Paul Dano), Dover and the detective go head to head on how to deal with matters. When the suspect is set free, Dover captures and tortures him. This part of the film is solid, dealing with the lengths a parent would go to in order to find his child. As for the film’s mystery element, that’s where things fall apart. Gyllenhaal is quite good here, even when the screenplay lets him down. The movie was shot by Roger Deakins, so it always looks good. It’s worth seeing, but it’s a bit of a disappointment.