You are kind of Imprisoned watching Prisoners...

Ok.....So there is this movie Prisoners that just came out. It actually premiered at The Toronto International Film Festival; waste of a festival screening if you ask me.

Prisoners is a psychological thriller about the abduction of two young girls and what parents will do to get their babies back. Hugh Jackman, Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, Viola Davis and Jake Gyllenhaal make up an amazing cast who definitely gave great performances as fathers, mothers and investigators....so what was the problem you ask? The story sucked.

From the moment the kids were "missing" there was a very linear path to the location of their children. The potential suspect that was so OBVIOUS that there shouldn't have been a doubt in anyones mind, was given a cursory glance then thrown back into the wild like he has come in, paid a parking ticket and left without any concerns. From that point forward, you are moderately entertained, occasionally thinking you are going to get a Sixth Sense moment or at least a decent plot twist, but you get nada. You do get the privilege of sitting there in pain while the story attempts to become layered and complicated all the while setting you up for on-going and consistent let downs. 

I will give Director Denis Villeneuve props for creating some super tenious and stressful moments; hands over mouth in anticipation of what may come next. You think a few times throughout the film you may get surprised and wait wantingly for it....And what comes after that brief moment of anticipation......total disappointment.

From the never maturing story to the inspectors' (Gyllenhaal) apathetic attitude and lazy police work to the wall paper like parents (Davis and Bello) who were window dressing for most of the film, it was hard to find anything redeeming about the movie. But there was one thing....Hugh Jackmans' character "Kelly Dover". Amidst all the predictable plot "twists" and mood lighting, Dover was unapologetic in his pursuit to find his daughter and would do everything in his means to make that happen. You can feel his loss, feel his anger and feel his resolve to be the caregiver he became when his little girl was born. That gentlemen and ladies is the only thing good about Prisoners.

I recommend you don't imprison yourself with Prisoners and opt instead for a rousing Tuesday night session of " Let's watch Anchorman for the 100th time". You always leave feeling satisfied and nobody gets abducted.