Prisoners

Prisoners is an investigation thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve, which tells the story of sudden disappearance of 2 girls on the Thanks giving day & subsequent investigation.

 

Keller Dovar  (HughJackman) visits his neighbor’s (The Birches) house on the eve of Thanksgiving day along with his family.  His daughter and neighbor's daughter go out on some pretext and just disappear.  The police is informed & David Loki (JakeGylenhaal) is assigned to the case.  The only lead available is the presence and subsequent absence of a Recreational Vehicle in front of the house from where the girls went missing.

The driver of the RV, a guy named Alex Jones is arrested.  However, upon interrogation, Loki concludes that Alex is innocent, as he has an IQ of a 10 year old.  Keller counters this argument saying how can one with IQ of a 10-year-old drive an RV and be eligible for driving license.  Keller confronts Alex while he is leaving police custody & a brief scuffle ensues.  In the melee that follows, Keller hears Alex saying “They did not cry when I left them.”   Keller is convinced of Alex’s involvement now, but Alex does not repeat this statement in front of the police & his aunt who was present at the time of scuffle negates Keller’s claims and says that her nephew did not say anything to Keller.

The police is convinced that Keller is stressed because of his daughter’s disappearance and therefore must have made up the statement.  Officer Loki while combing the perimeter houses, tracks a Father who has drinking problem and who has a dead body in his cellar.  Father killed this man, who claims to be waging a war against God by kidnapping children.  The dead body is wearing a maze pendant.

Meanwhile, convinced of Alex’s involvement in kidnapping of two girls, Keller kidnaps Alex and keeps him in his dilapidated property.  He tortures him, but is still not able to get anything.

Detective Loki tracks another suspicious looking guy from a candle night vigil in remembrance of the two missing girls.  His image is circulated & residents are asked to contact Detective Loki with any sightings.   Loki finds out that Alex is missing and suspects Keller’s involvement.  Meanwhile, Keller’s lets the The Birches know about Alex’s confinement.  Though, they do not agree with Keller’s method, they chose to keep mum.

Detective Loki gets a lead about the suspect from candle night vigil.  An attendant from a departmental store calls & informs him that this guy comes occasionally to her store and buys children’s clothes.  Loki asks her to keep eyes open and call him back immediately on further sightings.

Loki finds out the dilapidated property of Keller & is just about to bust the place where Alex is confined, when he gets a call from the Departmental store attendant.   The suspect has been sighted again and is finally tracked using car license number.  He is one Bob Taylor.  His house is searched, but no bodies are found.  Only, bloodied clothes of both girls are discovered.   In police custody, he is found humming to himself & drawing a maze. 

At the same time, Alex tells Keller that he is actually not Alex and that the girls are in the maze.  Keller goes to Alex’s house to get more information from his aunt.  He casually mentions “maze” to solicit information but Alex’s aunt says Alex never talked much & feigns ignorance.

Bob Taylor commits suicide in police custody, but Joy Birch, the other girl who was kidnapped is found.  She has been heavily drugged, but somehow managed to sneak out.  On opening her eyes, she only manages to say to Keller, “ You were there.”  Keller understands what she is hinting & runs out.  The police try to unsuccessfully stop him.   Loki believes he is going to his dilapidated building property & reaches there only to find out Alex in the confinement.

Keller, in the meantime, goes to Alex’s house.  The girls all the time were drugged and held prisoners there and that is what Joy Birch meant when she said “You were there.”  Alex’s aunt understands that her game is up and she tells Keller the truth.  She & her husband were devout, but after losing their only child to cancer, lost faith.  Kidnapping & killing children, was for them, a revenge, a war against God.  Alex was the first child they kidnapped but could not kill him.  Bob Taylor also was one of their victims who survived.   Alex’s Aunt shoots Keller in the leg and puts him in a covered pit under the garage.  Keller totters about in darkness and discovers his daughter’s whistle.

Loki comes to Alex’s house to inform aunt about Alex’s whereabouts.   He discovers that Alex’s uncle’s photograph has a maze pendant.  He draws out his gun and interrupts the aunt while she is injecting Keller’s daughter with poison.  He fatally shots her and is also shot at.  He rushes Keller’s daughter to emergency ward.

Both girls come and visit Loki in his bed to say thanks.  Keller is still missing.  Keller’s wife asks Loki whether Keller will be convicted if he ever shows up, Loki answers in affirmative.  

It is night time, and Loki is at Alex’s house.  The excavation team are reluctant to work further because of snowing.  Loki hears a whistle and at first dismisses it.  Then he hears persistent whistle in the direction of the garage & the movie concludes.

MY VIEWS:  Hugh Jackman as Keller, the kidnapped girl’s father is as good as always, but for me, the scene stealer was Jake Gylenhaal (David Loki).  He breathes life into the character of David Loki as a dedicated Police Detective.   The investigation styles of both Keller & Loki are quite contrasting.  Keller is searching for his daughter, whereas for Loki, it is just another case.  Loki is working in Police Department, so he has to follow all the procedures & protocols, whereas Keller is a free bird.   For Loki, the investigation is double tough, because for him, everybody including Keller is a suspect.   However, in the end, both Keller & Loki were wrong in their assumptions.  Keller was quite confident of the guilt of Alex, where as   Loki thought Bob Taylor was the kidnapper.  However, both Alex & Bob were themselves victims of child abuse.  Overall, a good thriller, which will keep one engrossed till the end.