Guzikowski's well-honed thriller occasionally idles under Villeneuve's dark character studies, but the director's powerfully imposed mood of dread elevates what might otherwise have been just a superior police procedural.

| Jul 31, 2018

An increasingly sloppy thriller, filled with obvious clues, laughable red herrings, and halfhearted "shock" reveals, played at a snail's pace that lets far too much air into the narrative.

| Jun 19, 2016

This film haunted me for days and weeks after seeing it, and the feeling still lingers.

| Original Score: A+ | Apr 17, 2015

Prisoners -- sometimes awkwardly, for the most part persuasively -- does a delicate balancing act between outright nightmare and naturalism.

| Feb 6, 2014

Even the most seemingly benign scenes posses a low level of fear, and the final hour is heavy enough to leave audiences shaking (and shaken).

| Original Score: B+ | Dec 21, 2013

Jackman is still in his phase of high-masculine misery... The entire performance is an exclamation point, and he swings it like a baseball bat.

| Oct 4, 2013

It's a tense and engaging thriller with some big ideas, only some of which it is able to carry.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 29, 2013

"Prisoners" is gripping and exceptionally well made, but I found it relentless-too bleak for my taste...

| Original Score: 2.1/2 | Sep 27, 2013

It's a veritable shoo-in for an Oscar nod this year, and one of the more disturbing films to come out of a major studio in ages.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 27, 2013

A whodunnit too classy to ignore, too crude to respect.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 27, 2013

Manages to fire the intellect and stimulate further researches into Arendt's work.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 27, 2013

One of the most satisfying thrillers we have seen in quite some time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 27, 2013

A hulking gothic whodunit which sadly falls to pieces in its final act.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 26, 2013

The cast and creators are released early for good behaviour.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 26, 2013

Prisoners is weary after ten minutes, and I suppose it has persuaded itself that its length is justified by its solemn gaze into the abyss.

| Sep 26, 2013

A certain dour realist vigour keeps the nightmare alive.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 26, 2013

In less talented hands, the story could lapse into the maudlin. But Villeneuve, director of the Oscar-nominated Incendies, seems to know just how far to go; only one moment feels less than authentic, but it would be a spoiler to mention it.

| Sep 24, 2013

A decent, cogent, greyly atmospheric thriller with something to say about War-On-Terror America.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 23, 2013

It's got lofty aspirations but it also wants to wallow in the muck - to thrill you and sicken you in equal measure while also being About Something.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 22, 2013

Ethical exploration or exploitation? In the end, I come down reservedly on the former side: the work done here by Jackman, Gyllenhaal, and especially Villeneuve is simply too powerful to ignore.

| Sep 20, 2013