Review of Prisoners

A thriller like Prisoners is a treat for mainstream audiences. It delivers all that's expected from a top-notch mystery/police procedural, and its missteps are few, minor, and far between. It offers a consistently unpredictable narrative, well-developed characters, and hard-hitting moral questions. A full plate, to be sure, and one that earns every minute of its 2 hour, 26 minute running time. As the first English-language feature film from Canadian-born director Dennis Villeneuve, Prisoners is quite the auspicious debut. Like any dark, Oscar-hopeful, it accomplishes the dual feat of entertaining and enriching.

The story starts straightforwardly enough, with two families gathering for Thanksgiving dinner. They are Keller and Grace Dover (Hugh Jackman and Mario Bello) and Franklin and Nancy Birch (Terrence Howard and Viola Davis). After dinner, while the adults chat and the teenagers lounge around watching TV, the families' two young girls, Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) and Joy (Kyla Drew Simmons) go outside to play. But the girls never return. When a routine search of the neighborhood doesn't turn them up, the families call the police. And that's when Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), a lonely but ambitious cop with a superb track record for solving cases, enters the scene. Circumstantial evidence points to Alex Jones (Paul Dano) as a likely culprit. After all, the two girls once came across the RV where he sleeps. But when the police discover he has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old and couldn't possibly have orchestrated a kidnapping scheme, they release him after a few days. An angry, grief-stricken Keller is convinced Alex knows something, and since the police are unable to wring it from him, he'll take matters into his own hands by any means necessary.

With its story involving child abduction and potential murder, Prisoners is certainly topical, and it delivers plenty of food for thought and debate. Keller is obsessed with justice, as is the public at large to a certain degree whenever a horrific crime is committed. Like him, we suspect something about Alex's demeanor and what he knows/doesn't know just doesn't feel right. His chief motive (saving his daughter) may be laudable, but does that give him the right to take the law into his own hands? And what if he's wrong? When Alex whispers something to him during an early confrontation, is he (and therefore we) just hearing things or taking them out of context? By constructing the film as a mystery, Villeneuve creates a similar feeling in us that infects Keller.

Equally as impressive as Prisoners' thematic content is how effectively it juggles the dual plotlines of Keller's struggle and Loki's investigation. Both are equally fascinating. When the latter takes over, not for a moment do we itch to return to the former. The case in Prisoners unfolds in classic "whodunnit" fashion, complete with clever red herrings, tense sequences, and truly puzzling elements (it's all about the mazes and snakes). This is the kind of movie that keeps a viewer so off-balance that he/she will be grasping for even the most outlandish explanation in hopes to put the pieces together. I suppose it's possible for an extremely attentive viewer to come up with the answer before it is explicitly revealed, but the great strength of Prisoners is how well its constructed and how easy it is to become involved in the lives of these characters.

For the second year in a row, Hugh Jackman figures to enter the Best Actor race, and deservedly so. As great as he was in Les Miserables, he's even more impressive here, perfectly capturing the grief and desperation that any father in his situation would feel, but rarely act upon. Regardless of whether the scene requires him to amp up the intensity or deliver a quieter, more introspective moment, Jackman is up to the task and then some. Also note-perfect is Jake Gyllenhaal, who, between this film and End of Watch, could become one of Hollywood's go-to guy's when a cop role is required. The rest of the cast (three out of five who own Oscar nominations for previous roles) takes on less flashier supporting roles, but there's not a poor performance to be found. Mention must be made of an unrecognizable Melissa Leo, who is superb as always, only this time buried under effective old-age makeup.

Prisoners will unquestionably become one of the most talked-about films of 2013, but just because a story is worth telling doesn't mean it demands all loose ends be neatly tied up. The final scene, taking place after a turn of events that drips with the darkest of irony, ends on an ambiguous note. As usual with these types of conclusions, some will groan with disappointment. But upon careful consideration, it's the perfect way to end the movie, if only for its ability to generate another layer of discussion long after the whodunnit aspect wraps up. Prisoners is that rare mainstream movie that offers a cinematic combo of "thrilling" and "powerful" in one package.

Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)

Review of Don Jon

When one considers the term "addiction," images of drugs, booze, and broken hopes and dreams fill the mind's eye. But pornography? Yes, that too can be debilitating, although not quite in the same manner. Like cigarettes, alcohol, or harder drugs, porn addiction can fuel an individual's daily/hourly planning, but what the craving lacks in physical harm, it makes up for in warping a person's perspective of real-life sex and intimacy. The age of the Internet and free, YouTube-esque porn sites make the habit even harder to kick, and it's this cinematically-rare condition that first-time director Joseph Gordon-Levitt lets us in on with Don Jon. This is primarily a romantic comedy, and a frequently very funny one at that, but its keen observations on sex, stimulation, and addiction give it a unique life all its own.

As one would expect from the title, Gordon-Levitt plays a Cassanova type. As New Jersey bartender John Martello, he's a master at scoring one-night-stands with the hottest women at nightclubs every weekend, without fail. His closest friends, Bobby (Rob Brown) and Danny (Jeremy Luke) call him "Don Jon" and are frequently amazed with his prowess. But John has a secret: he's addicted to pornography. In fact, no matter how heated and passionate his flings get, it can't compare, at least in his mind, to the bliss he feels when masturbating to sex of the virtual variety. But after he fails to snag Barbara Sugarman (Scarlet Johannson), a woman he's intoxicated by, in the same manner he's bedded so many others, he realizes he's going to have to pull out his "long game" and date her the old-fashioned way. So, thanks to a little detective work and the magic of Facebook, John meets up with Barbara and believes he is on his way to what he hopes is a far more rewarding sex life. But there's that pesky addiction to deal with.......

"Wait!" you protest. "Why settle for porn when you have someone as hot as Scarlett Johansson?" That's an excellent question indeed, and Don Jon delves deep into the main character's mentality with regard to this issue. To John, porn represents the ultimate in sexual freedom. You can view what you want when you want, and you never have to worry about meeting someone else's expectations or adjusting to that person's preferences in the bedroom. He can enjoy real sex, but it's occasionally unsatisfying; something he never feels with porn. John asserts he's not a junkie, but once he utters that all-too-familiar refrain of "I can stop whenever I want," we know right then and there that he's fighting an uphill battle. And given Barbara's utter disgust with porn, we know their relationship will at some point undergo major turbulence.

Barbara is a controlling woman and as is obsessed with the "Hollywood romance" mentality of what a man should be as John is with porn. She leads John along and makes him work harder than he's ever had just to obtain that first sexual encounter. Some of her suggestions are helpful, like encouraging John to take a night class or two and work toward his degree, and his parents (played by Tony Danza and Glenne Headly) love her, but there's something a little off about her that we can sense from the get-go but can't quite put our finger on. When John meets a frazzled woman named Esther (Julianne Moore) at his night class, he eventually finds someone he can confide in about his sexual difficulties. The manner in which this plotline plays out may surprise you.

Don Jon is equally notable for its relentless energy as it is for its thematic material and touch. This may be Gordon-Levitt's first time behind the camera, but his work here resembles that of a seasoned pro. The film's editing is crisp and smooth, and the filmmakers have a little fun parodying the romantic comedy formula along the way (especially hilarious is the inclusion of a fake movie that John and Barbara attend, starring Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway). And many of John's "insights" about porn-watching, from the length of time it takes to "find the right clip" to the unfortunate timing of certain images with the viewer's orgasm, are drop-dead hilarious. That old line of "it's funny because it's true" will certainly apply with many straight male viewers here.

With his pumped-up physique and chauvinist mannerisms, Gordon-Levitt certainly dominates the screen, but he also does an excellent job selling his character's struggle with all things sex, love, and expectations. As he has grown steadily as an actor, he proves equally adept at culling the right performances out of his co-stars. Especially effective are the two main actresses, Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore, who shine playing women with two very different sets of psychological issues. The chemistry between each pairing is spot-on and works in different ways. If there's a noticeable, in-the-moment misstep, however, it's John's parents. Danza and Headly certainly portray colorful characters, but these two are characterized a little too broadly compared to the rest of the cast.

Based on the promotional material for Don Jon, one might be wondering whether 90 minutes of thick Jersey accents (bringing back bad memories of Jersey Shore) might be too much to bear. But the movie doesn't need to address that question; it has far more on its plate. Are the points that Don Jon has to make about sexual enlightenment new or revolutionary? Not really, but the important part is that in this film, they feel true-to-life. And the ending satisfies on an emotional level without cheating. Don Jon is breezy, frequently funny, and thoughtful, all in one package. It's the kind of mainstream entertainment you'll be happy to throw down $11 for, whether you go alone or with a date.

Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)