Prisoners

It’s every parent’s nightmare: your child goes out to play and disappears, leaving you desperate to find out what happened to them and, if possible, punish whoever did them harm. Director Denis Villeneuve does an excellent job of preying on the phobias of the parents in the audience with this taut thriller, but he’s also clever enough to give his film a universal feeling of terror that will keep anyone watching on the edge of their seats. Hugh Jackman is excellent as the father of the missing child, perfectly encapsulating the rage and frustration anyone would feel at not being able to protect his own, while Paul Dano is palpably creepy as the guy that Jackman suspects abducted his daughter. Maria Bello is equally good as the wife whose inability to do anything but grieve drives her to the edge of sanity. The only really weak point of the story is the unconvincing work of Jake Gyllenhaal as the cop dedicated to solving the case by whatever means necessary.