{"id":367,"date":"2014-06-27T22:42:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T22:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:43:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:43:33","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=\"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/70273235.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1306\" src=\"https:\/\/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, taut psychological tale amid a stellar cast, including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano.<\/p>\n<p>That is what separates it from other similar, yet mediocre, thrillers.<\/p>\n<p>The gray, somber Pennsylvania town is a perfect backdrop for a story involving child abduction and a father who seeks a confession from the presumed kidnapper.<\/p>\n<p>The mood and cinematography are impressive, and the bleakness fits 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 long, but it keeps you 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&#8217;s mind during the film.<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners has a major drawback: too many plot holes and questions left unanswered after the film.<\/p>\n<p>The kidnapper&#8217;s motivations are weak and never fully explained. Parts of the story don&#8217;t add up and make little sense.<\/p>\n<p>The film&#8217;s style is similar to Zodiac (2006) and Mystic River (2003).<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners (2013) is an intense, thrilling ride to enjoy, but not over-analyze.<\/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, taut psychological tale amid a stellar cast, including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano. That is what separates it from other similar, yet mediocre, thrillers. &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":[4,329,11769,204],"tags":[4149,9231,4150,2455,11883,2428,2302,2527,2440,2153,7491,12795],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-films","category-crime-thriller","category-psychological-thriller","category-thrillers","tag-denis-villeneuve","tag-dennis-christopher","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-jake-gyllenhaal","tag-len-cariou","tag-maria-bello","tag-melissa-leo","tag-paul-dano","tag-terrence-howard","tag-viola-davis","tag-wayne-duvall","tag-zoe-soul"],"_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":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24597,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/24597"}],"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}]}}