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The Kids Aren't All Right

Unlike the usual gory horror movie where a teenager girl is stabbed and we wonder when her ditzy friend will be next, "Prisoners" is genuinely scary. It stays frightening throughout its two-and-a-half-hour running time, and without mass bloodshed and overblown scores. There is an intensity here that never lets up.

What's interesting is that it wants to freak out viewers and keep them captivated without trying to elicit crying spells. That's not common for films about abducted kids, and in this case there are two. It's Thanksgiving in small-town Pennsylvania and two neighboring families, the Dovers (Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello) and the Birches (Terrence Howard, Viola Davis), are spending it together. They each have a young daughter, and they both go missing that evening; there was a suspicious RV parked near their house earlier that day. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is dining alone at a Chinese restaurant when he gets the call.

The RV driver, Alex (Paul Dano), is quickly arrested. But he has the intellectual capacity of a 10 year old, and barely speaks, and has no evidence in his vehicle, and says he didn't do it, so he is released. That leaves the families with no leads and a rising sense of panic as the minutes and days tick away. Keller Dover (Jackman) insists that Alex is guilty and takes matters into his own hands in a psychotic fashion. Loki is now looking for two young girls and a missing suspect, along with new leads, and he has some nervous facial tics to accompany his stress.

"Prisoners" works really well as a mood piece and a thriller. It's shot in dark, grainy hues, and there's not much music. It relies on the strong acting of its male leads, who play against type, as Jackman is desperate and scary and Gyllenhaal is dry, determined and humorless. Bello is mostly reduced to a bed, self-medicating with pills, and Viola has about one memorable scene. It's mostly the men's movie and they are great in it. Canadian director Denis Villeneuve ("Incendies"), in his English-language debut, has a knack for tension and pacing.

The problem with the film is that it doesn't completely make sense or tie together when you really think about it after. Aaron Guzikowski's screenplay has some clear plot holes, random events, and moments that border on fantastical. Things that make you go "huh?" But it's so spellbinding that you won't likely care.