Name of film – Prisoners (2013)
Lizard film – 023
Chosen by – Mashiter
Date – October 2018
Director – Denis Villeneuve
Starring – Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano
Duration – 153 mins
Genre – Crime, Drama
Summary –
When his daughter and her friend go missing, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) decides he must take matters into his own hands as Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the police pursue multiple leads but come no closer to finding the missing girls. However, as the pressure mounts Keller s desperation increases and he is forced to take the law into his own hands – but just how far will he go to protect his family?
JONES’ SCORE & REVIEW
ACTING – 10
DIRECTING – 9
SCORE/AUDIO – 8
CINEMATOGRAPHY – 9
ENTERTAINMENT – 9
TOTAL – 45/50 = 90% *****
I never read up beforehand about a Lizardman selected film as I don’t want to ruin the surprise. I take note of actors and the director involved but generally have to just guess by the title what it could be about. “Prisoners” hey? What could this be about? A bunch of inmates doing it Dreyer style in the showers? A spin-off of “Porridge” with some shit young actor from “The Inbetweeners” playing a young Fletcher? Or maybe it was a reconstruction movie of all of the students trapped, having to sit through a Charlie Batterson lecture on a Monday morning. That dog breath, nothing of a man, who spat over the pissed off crowds like Pob gossed over our TV screens and wrote his name in saliva. It was like visiting Seaworld going to one of Batterson’s turgid meetings – the first seven rows got wet. Anyway, enough speculation, let’s just stick the DVD on and see what Mash’s latest offering had in store…
Instantly, I noticed no opening credits and just the title of the movie. Interesting in this day and age where a film has a dozen sponsors, studios and film makers involved that we could skip all that shit and just see the word “Prisoners”. I like it!
Straight into the action we see a father and son reciting the Lord’s prayer just before the boy is about to shoot his first deer. What a cunt I thought – how a religious person could even consider shooting a thing of beauty. At least the meat wasn’t wasted as they took the venison to a family friend’s house for a Thanksgiving feast.
“- Did you feel bad for that deer when you shot it?
– Do you feel bad for cows when you go to McDonalds? That’s what my dad says. Deer, if they have too many babies, the babies starve anyway. You gotta keep the population down
– Right, your dad say that too?”
Only five minutes in, you can see how this relationship works. The father tells his son to shoot the deer, he gives him a firm “no” when seeing if his dad will be able to help out financially with purchasing a second hand car, and now he’s quoting his dad to justify shooting Bambi.
As the weather changes from a nice crisp Autumn day in Pennsylvania, as it pisses down, suddenly the mood darkens like the skies above as two girls go missing (the 2 daughters of the families celebrating Thanksgiving together). Well at least it was a welcoming distraction from the black guy attempting to entertain with his trumpet. Instantly the chap in the dodgy white RV is the main suspect but he’s vanished too. Detective Loki, played by the impressive Jake Gyllenhaal, tracks down the owner and before we know it, he’s pulling Alex Jones (Paul Dano) out off the trees in his crashed vehicle. Oh great, for two films in a row, there’s a character with the same name as me or my son. In “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” there was an unemployed “Robert Jones” mentioned looking for work at the job centre and now a man in this film is sharing my boy’s name. A freaky, suspected pedo who kidnaps girls? Thanks a bunch. No doubt in my next review I’ll be writing about a smackhead hooker called Marlena Jones taking centre stage in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”.
As time ticks on, the two mothers of the girls are getting worried sick by the second whereas the main character, Keller Dover, played by the brilliant Hugh Jackman, is on a one-man mission to find his daughter, at all costs. Meanwhile the other worried father, the black dude, might as well be joining his brother in “The Edge” and get mauled by a bear. Black Men Can’t Hunt for bears or kidnappers it now appears.
“Alex Jones, unfortunately has the IQ of a 10 year old. There’s no way someone with the IQ of a 10 year old could abduct two girls in broad daylight, and then somehow make them disappear.”
I have a beady eye for finding items used as symbolism in movies. The early Coen Brother flicks trained me well. In “Prisoners” it was the crucifix. It was a tattoo on Loki’s hand, it was a necklace Keller wore, it could be seen dangling in his car too. Then of course, the visit to the drunken Father’s home, we can see it hanging up in his kitchen. We just needed Linda Blair to appear in the next scene, fudding herself silly with a cross whilst screaming, “HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT YOUR CUNTING DAUGHTER’S DONE?” to make it a full house. Religion was strong throughout this picture but never painted in a positive light. Afterall, we witnessed the vicar’s cellar, a home of a rotten corpse – the leftovers of a man who had apparently killed 16 children. Nobody wants to be found inside a priest’s hole – not even Dave Walker who once confessed, “I’d fuck a frog if I could stop it from hopping!” Yeah, all this film did was strengthen my Atheist believes! If you are a religious lover, may I suggest you watch another of our Lizardman October picks, “Spotlight”, oh wait, maybe not 🙂
The religious aspect continued throughout “Prisoners” as when Keller listens to the Bible extract in his car, it acts as a pep talk as he takes matters into his own hands to twat the suspect himself. Not since Mashiter requoted the famous “The path of the righteous man…” verse to score headship at his school, have religious words become so effective.
“They didn’t cry until I left them!”
Keller Dover is an angry, controlling man. The police can’t keep this man out off their way. Fucking A, Dective Loki has got a tougher challenge than trying to find a spare £1 coin in Jabba’s pockets for the leccy meter (in fact all the Vicky Wine boys’ pockets). As Dover points a gun at Alex whilst questionning him, it was an uncomfortable watch seeing him torture him for answers. Meanwhile the black neighbour is in the same room but wants to pussy out and go back home to his wife. He tries to talk Keller out off it and do things by the book but there’s more chance of talking sense into Helen Keller. Of course, it wouldn’t be too long before the dickless genuine chocolate face (no make up) grassed Keller up to his wife. Snitches end up with stitches. Pity, in this case, snitches didn’t end up in ditches. Whatever the outcome, the limp dick character couldn’t take any credit whatsoever for his daughter returning home safely later on. If I was Keller Dover, I’d be telling the useless cunt, “If you were in my family, I’d call you Ben. Now Ben Dover, you pussy…” and shove his lousy trumpet up his arse!
By the time numbnut’s wife sees the beaten Alex Jones, he looks a fuckin’ mess, nearly as pretty as Louise Burnage Day on her wedding night. Grim.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such pumped up angry acting as when Keller demands answers from Alex, rearranges his face and threatens him with a hammer. Now that was acting of the highest order. He couldn’t give a shit about the state of his ex-apartment, in fact the bathroom sink looked more minging than ours did at 4 Lake Road. Keller wasn’t trying to cover his tracks like a Dexter Morgan type of character would – he was simply a man who wanted the truth, one way or another. Hugh Jackman was immense. This was a complete opposite character to the likes we’ve seen him play in “Australia”, “Les Mis” and “The Greatest Showman”, he was a hot headed dude who acted out before thinking. This was in contrast to Gyllenhaal’s Loki character. He was generally calm and collected, but that rage was nicely bubbling away and quite often the angry volcano side of him would shoot it’s lava up to the surface. He let this case eat him up and spit him back out again, getting under his skin so badly, he ended up killing the main suspect whilst in the police interrogation room in a fit of rage. Good luck typing that report up chief!
It was great casting to put these two actors together. Originally, Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale were set to star, with Bryan Singer directing, but the two actors opted to make “The Fighter” instead. Leonard DiCaprio was attached to the project for a long time, but he dropped out. Hugh Jackman was suppose to play a similar character in “The Lovely Bones” about a father whose daughter is kidnapped, but ironically, it was played by Mark Wahlberg instead. Ryan “fuck off” Gosling auditioned for the role of Loki but thank fuck he didn’t get the job. Funnily enough, I was thinking whilst I watched “Prisoners” how Loki’s deadpan style could have been played by the 2nd worst actor on earth, but on reflection I quickly concluded that he would have turned this little gem of a movie into a car crash flop. Director, Denis Villeneuve, had frequently worked with Gyllenhaal so this is why he got the nod. Gyllenhaal and Gosling apparently have a friendly professional rivalry so it was Jake 1 Ryan 0 this time. However, Villeneavue and Gosling would finally get their chance to work together in “Blade Runner 2049” – which by the way is a fuckin’ big yawnfest!
I liked the attention to detail with the characters. Loki wore a freemason ring on his left hand and the zodiacal sign symbols tattooed on his right hand fingers (Leo, Scorpio, Aries, Virgo) were Gyllenhaal’s ideas. The zodiac theme is fitting as he starred in a film called “Zodiac” in 2007 which in my opinion is worth a watch, even if it’s a poor man’s “Seven” or “Silence of the Lambs”.
Melissa Leo’s character – the old woman, Holly Jones, who turned out to be an evil cow, wore a grey wig and a foam rubber posterior in order to “ground” her character. Leo also requested the props assistants to avoid cleaning her glasses after each day’s shooting. It’s little things like this I love discovering after I’ve watched a film. They are such fine details to help build and create iconic characters. Can you imagine what method actors like De Niro, Brando, Depp, Walken and Day-Lewis were like in their hay day?
A big mention to the wonderful Paul Dano too who played Alex Jones. He came to light in a big way in “There Will Be Blood” – a movie that I could watch over and over again. A masterpiece. I plead for Mr Mashiter to watch this again and I swear on my life, 100%, after a second viewing, will rank this film as high as Lizardman Jones and Dreyer do. Dano admits to being attracted to roles of this nature (learning difficulties, screaming, nonsensical ranting) and says he draws on his own personal and private experiences to perfect these recurring roles. Looks like we’ve found the perfect actor to play Jonathan Wood then if they ever decide to release a bio-pic of the infamous scaley fuck.
“You wasted time, you wasted time following me, you let this happen!”
I enjoyed the sparing soundtrack in this film. Rather than go down the route of tunes, it was more about using sound to build the tension and suspense, like a good horror film does, like in the scene where Loki chases the new suspect through the backyards and onto the highway. The sound of the squeaky floorboards towards the end of the film was another example of how the sound department nicked ideas from great horrors, or just had a nosey in a Barratt showroom. Boy, these new builds sure make a fucking racket when someone walks on the landing or top floor. As much as the sound was a plus point for “Prisoners”, I would have liked half a dozen songs maybe thrown into the mix as at times, it needed a bit more than just the ambient sound bytes.
When writing reviews, I often go into large details about why I loved the cinematography or why the director was class. Regarding this film, I don’t have too much to say about these two areas. It’s not a case of I wasn’t impressed – far from it, it’s just the acting and story itself were its strongest features. The director simply guided the film and let it tell its story whilst allowing the fine acting performances to blossom, with a pleasing backdrop to boot. The leafy surburbs of an American housing estate, to the depressing boarded up disused building, it ticked all the boxes. I loved the camera work when we see Alex’s bloodshot eye peeping through the hole of the DIY prison cell.
It was a brave move for the director to leave this thriller at over 150 minutes long. According to screenwriter, Aaron Guzikowski, the original cut of the film was three hours. Saying that, it never felt like a long feature. It actually flew by as I was gripped from start to finish. The only reason I didn’t give it full marks for entertainment was a couple of questionnable scenes such as the snake scene when Detective Loki is pulling off them box lids quicker than Paul Foster handing in his latest essay. Surely if deadly critters were camping out on top of each case, you’d open with caution? Also towards the climax of “Prisoners” when Loki found the young girl, why didn’t he call for back up. Did he just want to be the Ronaldo hero? Maybe it was just done for dramatic effect as he darts down the highway rushing her off to hospital. I can forgive him though as he had just been shot grazing his head, so he probably wasn’t thinking straight.
“Making children disappear is the war we wage with God. Makes people lose their faith. Turns them into demons like you.”
The ending was worth the wait. Wow, it was Mrs Goggins in the basement with the coke cocktail drink? That’s some game of Cluedo! Who would have thought, a woman who looked more at home in “The Golden Girls” would be the badass of the film? Never mess with a bitch who’s got glasses as big as Deirdre Barlow’s. Not only did she prison Keller’s daughter, she drugged Dover himself, and treated him like a Raggydoll – throwing him away like a piece of rubbish. In this case, forcing him down a manhole, covering it up, and parking her banger of a car over it. Would she get away with it? Afterall, who would suspect a Mrs Merton look-a-like doing all these evil acts? An auntie in a cardie wasn’t exactly high up on the whiteboard displaying public enemy no.1 at the cop shop.
The sudden fade out to the black screen ending. The perfect sandwich as the same technique was used at the beginning. Naturally we were left with questions about the end. That whistle? So he’s alive then we presume? I think there’s a small chance that for some strange reason, Detective Loki might decide not to get Keller up from the pit, however, in my mind, he would have for sure. Those two guys had a strange connection that they form over the course of the movie. It seems to be the most logical next step for Loki at that moment. Originally, Hugh Jackman’s character was never discovered by the police at the end. He would have remained a missing person, and died a la “The Vanishing “, but this was deemed too bleak. (Oooh “The Vanishing” – that 1988 film is to be watched boys if you love your thrillers!!!)
To concluded, I thoroughly enjoyed and highly rate this film. One of the most underrated thrillers ever made. It reminded me of “Stir of Echoes”. Again, though, the title of the film, “Prisoners” – I mean, if I released something so powerful, I’d have invested some time doing some Focus Groups and brainstorming better titles. As much as I thought the title was weaker than Chris Smith’s left bicep, I can see why it was used as Loki grew up in a boys home and didn’t really have a family. He’s a prisoner of his own past with his own demons. Many characters experienced locked up scenes. “Black Men Can’t Trump(et)” would still get my vote over the title chosen. Regardless of what this epic thriller was called, Lizardman Mashiter has pulled off another great selection. Well done my friend. A brilliant addition to my Lizardman DVD shelf.
DREYER’S SCORE & REVIEW
ACTING – 9
DIRECTING – 9
SCORE/AUDIO – 8
CINEMATOGRAPHY – 8
ENTERTAINMENT – 9
TOTAL – 43/50 = 86% ****
ACTING 95%
DIRECTING 90%
SCORE/AUDIO 80%
CINEMATOGRAPHY 85%
ENTERTAINMENT 90%
TOTAL SCORE 88%
(RJ – 90% RD – 86%)
**** 4 STAR LIZARDMAN RATING ****
Lizardman Film Club 