Prisoners Reviews
jackiekcooper.com
Jackman gives one of his best performances ever in this tense thriller about a parent's worst fears.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
Urban Cinefile
The work creates its own rhythms and moods, and weaves a rich tapestry of human experience that keeps us engaged. That is the film's achievement
Urban Cinefile
The film's striking landscape is like a winding road that links the thoughts, ideas and senses evoked by Tim Winton's stories as themes of regret, guilt and renewal wind their way through the diverse narratives
Movies.com
...its cast is uniformly impressive, especially the mute, disturbed Dano and the glum "bad cop" Gyllenhaal, who effectively turns down the handsome and owns the film with his gaunt, haunted stare.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Winnipeg Free Press
Prisoners is, first and foremost, a crime drama in which Villeneuve and screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski slowly ratchet the suspense by making the audience privy to clues the characters do not have the opportunity to put together.
San Francisco Examiner
Gyllenhaal's tattooed, twitchy Loki proves equally satisfying, a loner with a troubled past and one of those dogged cops who make the genre enjoyable.
Laramie Movie Scope
All these nagging little problems, plot holes, inconsistencies, are a bother, but the overall strength of the film overpowers these things.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
Top CriticIn less talented hands, the story could lapse into the maudlin. But Villeneuve, director of the Oscar-nominated Incendies, seems to know just how far to go; only one moment feels less than authentic, but it would be a spoiler to mention it.
Total Film
A simmering pressure cooker of a thriller, Prisoners is an unforgiving but emotionally rewarding experience sustained by powerhouse performances, taut scripting and Villeneuve's tonally assured direction.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Christianity Today
Rife with biblical allusions and ostensibly grounded in an old fashioned exploration of good vs. evil, Prisoners is more than just your standard kidnapping thriller.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Blu-ray.com
The grim atmosphere of desperation isn't seen to its natural conclusion, rendering the picture tiring and defeated in the final stretch, almost afraid to deliver the killing blow it was teasing for two hours.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
Empire Magazine
A decent, cogent, greyly atmospheric thriller with something to say about War-On-Terror America.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Digital Spy
At the beating (if broken) heart of it all is Jackman, sunken eyes and permanent scowl, delivering a turn so intense it makes Wolverine's berserker rage look like an infant's hissy fit.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
It's got lofty aspirations but it also wants to wallow in the muck - to thrill you and sicken you in equal measure while also being About Something.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Although the ending of 'Prisoners' may leave some viewers cold, I think it's a clever way to make us keep talking about this thriller for a long time to come.
tonymacklin.net
Prisoners is like a hyper kid got on an elevator and pushed all the buttons, so that it stopped at every floor.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.0/5
Creative Loafing
The film is like a lean cut of meat, with all the fat trimmed off and the rest providing the necessary protein to keep functioning.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Las Vegas Informer
After seeing this, you will say: Jackman also plays Wolverine?
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A chilling suspense thriller about child kidnappings in rural America that is brilliantly directed by French Canadian director Denis Villenueve.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Aisle Seat
One of the strengths of Prisoners is that it forces you to confront the part of yourself that really would do literally anything for your child. It doesn't frighten you so much as it makes you frighten yourself.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
