Prisoners
Movie, 2013, The 2010s, Set in Pennsylvania in winter
Prisoners is #5 of 11 in release order and #5 of 11 in chronological order in the Denis Villeneuve.
The story
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.
Prisoners recap
Prisoners (2013) follows Keller Dover, a Pennsylvania father who kidnaps and tortures the man he believes took his daughter after the police let him go. Denis Villeneuve directs from Aaron Guzikowski's script. Hugh Jackman plays Keller, and Jake Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki, who has solved every case he has worked. On Thanksgiving, young Anna Dover and her friend Joy Birch vanish after playing near a parked RV. Its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), a young man with the mind of a child, is arrested and released for lack of evidence. When Alex whispers that the girls did not cry until he left them, Keller takes him to an empty building and beats him, helped reluctantly by Joy's father Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard), whose wife Nancy (Viola Davis) learns of it. Maria Bello plays Keller's wife Grace, and Melissa Leo plays Alex's aunt Holly. Loki follows a trail of mazes and a suspect, Bob Taylor, who kills himself in custody. It is Villeneuve's first English-language film and his fifth feature, after Incendies; Enemy was shot first but released later.
Prisoners ending explained
Prisoners ends with Keller trapped in a pit beneath Holly Jones's yard. Joy, escaped, tells Keller he was there, and he realizes the house he visited is the answer. Holly confesses that she and her late husband kidnapped children to wage a war on God, and that Alex was their first victim. She holds Keller at gunpoint and puts him in the pit. Loki finds her injecting Anna, kills her in a shootout and races Anna to hospital. Later, at Holly's house, Loki hears the faint sound of Anna's whistle from the ground.
Post-credits scenes
No. Prisoners has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Prisoners
Prisoners isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 81%
Where it fits
Cast
- Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover
- Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki
- Viola Davis as Nancy Birch
- Maria Bello as Grace Dover
- Terrence Howard as Franklin Birch
- Melissa Leo as Holly Jones
- Paul Dano as Alex Jones
- Dylan Minnette as Ralph Dover
- Zoë Soul as Eliza Birch
- Erin Gerasimovich as Anna Dover
- Kyla-Drew as Joy Birch
- Wayne Duvall as Captain Richard O'Malley
Directed by Denis Villeneuve.