‘Dune: Part Two’ Got Delayed, and Now No Release Date Is Safe The Language “No, he stopped being a person when he took our daughters.” “He’s not a person anymore,” Keller tells Franklin as the basis for such heinous acts of cruelty. Of course, a child’s abduction is the kind of event that nobody can plan for, and justifying the torture of a man who may well be innocent pushes Keller past the point of no return. Keller is a particularly tragic figure: A devoutly religious man who is also a doomsday prepper, he takes comfort in hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. Meanwhile, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), famed for solving every case he’s been presented with, pursues whatever leads he can find-starting with townsfolk who are on the sex offender registry.įollowing in the tradition of the finest David Fincher thrillers, answers aren’t easy to come by in Prisoners, and seeing fundamentally decent characters pushed to their breaking point propels the film’s narrative. ![]() While the other father, Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard), does not actively participate in the torture, he goes along with Keller’s scheme, knowing that with every day that passes, it’s more and more unlikely their children will ever be found. (“They only cried when I left them.”)įrom there, Prisoners gets really twisted: Keller abducts Alex outside Alex’s aunt’s house and brutally tortures him in an abandoned apartment complex for information about the girls’ whereabouts. Naturally, this isn’t a satisfactory outcome for the Dover patriarch, Keller (Hugh Jackman), who is convinced of Alex’s guilt after the suspect whispers something to him in the precinct parking lot that implies he was with the girls. (Alex is sporting Jeffrey Dahmer–esque glasses and is objectively creepy in a way that only Dano could bring to life, which arouses further suspicion.) After he’s interrogated, however, it’s clear that Alex has mental disabilities, and when there isn’t a shred of evidence connecting the missing girls to the RV, he’s released from custody. ![]() ![]() When authorities track the vehicle down, the driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), is arrested. Later that afternoon, the youngest daughters of both families go missing-the only lead is a mysterious RV that was parked in the neighborhood. Set in the fictional working-class town of Conyers, Pennsylvania, Prisoners begins on Thanksgiving with the Dover and Birch families celebrating the holiday together. There’s a lot of TV out there. We want to help: Every week, we’ll tell you the best and most urgent shows to stream so you can stay on top of the ever-expanding heap of Peak TV. But Prisoners can act as a skeleton key that unlocks some of Villeneuve’s defining preoccupations as a filmmaker: how far characters are willing to go, and what they’re prepared to sacrifice, for the answers they seek. (Villeneuve’s future may also hold a James Bond movie.) When stacked up against so many stellar blockbusters, Prisoners feels almost second rate, like an athlete that put together a promising season just before catapulting to stardom. on account of the ongoing Hollywood labor strikes, Dune: Part Two in March 2024. Now, a decade after Prisoners’ debut, Villeneuve’s résumé speaks for itself: Enemy (featuring an all-time WTF ending), Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune, and, provided there isn’t another delay from Warner Bros. While Denis Villeneuve was by no means an unknown commodity among cinephiles-his 2010 drama, Incendies, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars- Prisoners marked the filmmaker’s thrilling introduction to the mainstream. Admittedly, none of us had any idea who the guy was, but everyone on that crappy sofa was in agreement: We will watch your career with great interest. (As all good whiskey should be served.) Nevertheless, over the next two and a half hours, we all sat there in stunned silence-completely at the mercy of the French Canadian director responsible for this bleak, gorgeous film. Looking back, I can’t imagine a worse setting to experience an atmospheric crime thriller: several dudes packed like sardines on a small, stained couch, sipping whiskey out of red Solo cups. The first time I saw Prisoners was at a friend’s apartment in college.
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