{"id":367,"date":"2014-06-27T22:42:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T22:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2026-02-10T11:49:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:49:27","slug":"prisoners-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=367","title":{"rendered":"Prisoners-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Prisoners-2013<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Director Denis Villeneuve<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott&#8217;s Review #75<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/70273235.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1306\" src=\"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/70273235-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"70273235\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/70273235-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/70273235.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Reviewed June 27, 2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The film Prisoners (2013) weaves a gripping, taught, psychological tale amid a well-acted stellar cast of Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano for starters.<\/p>\n<p>That is what separates it from other similar, yet mediocre thriller types.<\/p>\n<p>The gray, somber, Pennsylvania town is a perfect backdrop for a story involving child abduction and a father that seeks a confession from the presumed kidnapper.<\/p>\n<p>The mood and cinematography are impressive and the bleakness is perfect for the tone- a cold Thanksgiving holiday weekend in a working-class, steel town.<\/p>\n<p>At two hours and twenty-six minutes, the film is lengthy, but on the edge of your seat.<\/p>\n<p>What intrigued me most was the audience conflict of whom to root for. Is the father purely innocent? Is the kidnapper guilty? Is someone else involved?<\/p>\n<p>These questions go through the viewer\u2019s mind during the film.<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners possess a major drawback in the high number of plot holes and questions asked after the film.<\/p>\n<p>The kidnapper\u2019s motivations are weak and never fully explained. Portions of the story do not add up and make little sense.<\/p>\n<p>The film is similar in style to Zodiac (2006) and Mystic River (2003).<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners (2013) is an intense, thrill ride to be enjoyed, but not over-analyzed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Oscar Nominations:<\/strong> Best Cinematography<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prisoners-2013 Director Denis Villeneuve Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal Scott&#8217;s Review #75 Reviewed June 27, 2014 Grade: B+ The film Prisoners (2013) weaves a gripping, taught, psychological tale amid a well-acted stellar cast of Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano for starters. That is what separates it from other similar, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=367\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Prisoners-2013<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,4147,9226,4148,2452,2426,2300,2522,2432,204,2146,7486],"tags":[76,4149,9231,4150,2455,2428,2302,2527,2440,258,2153,7491],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-films","category-denis-villeneuve","category-dennis-christopher","category-hugh-jackman","category-jake-gyllenhaal","category-maria-bello","category-melissa-leo","category-paul-dano","category-terrence-howard","category-thrillers","category-viola-davis","category-wayne-duvall","tag-2013-movie-reviews","tag-denis-villeneuve","tag-dennis-christopher","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-jake-gyllenhaal","tag-maria-bello","tag-melissa-leo","tag-paul-dano","tag-terrence-howard","tag-thrillers","tag-viola-davis","tag-wayne-duvall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20108,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/20108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}