Prisoners
Dir: Denis Villeneuve
2013
****
I won tickets to secret screening of Prisoners and as well as having a free glass of wine given to us when we got there, we were also surprised with a special guest appearance from Director Denis Villeneuve and stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. I met Donnie Darko and The Wolverine! Whoo hoo. I have of course left all additional bias and enthusiasm at the door in reviewing this film, my opinion is a totally honest one. It's brilliant. I was saying only the other day to my wife (who is still on cloud 9 after meeting Hugh Jackman) that I haven't seen a really good thriller in a long time and now I have. From the very beginning, Prisoners is an intense and thrilling experience. Intensity and thrills aren't always easy things to get right but here, director Denis Villeneuve stretches both for the whole length of the film with loosing any quality or strength. It is an easy 153 minutes to sit through, although it is exhausting. Everything is important though, nothing you are shown or told is there to throw you off pace or play for time, it's all important to the story. I think it's a triumph and easily one of the best thrillers of resent years and one of the top films of the year so far.