Reviews

Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal have teamed with relatively unknown director Denis Villeneuve to bring one of the greatest Thrillers of 2013. "Pray for the best, but prepare for the worst," is a line Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) lives his life by. But when the unimaginable happens, and his daughter and her friend are kidnapped, Keller takes matters into his own hands when the police seem unable to act.

Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) has solved every case he's ever been assigned. He and Keller are after the same goal, to see the girls home alive, but their methods differ; one of composure, one of desperation.

Now, onto discussing the brilliance of this film. For me, it really comes down to three factors: the story, the acting, and the fantastic moments of tension. Essentially, these are the elements that every film of the Thriller genre will strive to perfect, and Prisoners hits the nail on the head for all three.

Boasting a run time of over two and half hours, Prisoners has a lot of story to tell. Long films aren't always a good thing, when you stretch a film to that length of time it typically starts to stagger at some point. But with Prisoners, it worked. It wasn't slow, but neither did it feel rushed, the Director told the story he wanted to tell in what felt like its entirety. The story also managed to remain intriguing without throwing twists and turns and revelations into the script every few minutes, and this is partly due to the fantastic characters and their relationships with one another.

However, it doesn't matter how great a script is, especially in the Thriller genre, if you haven't got the actors to deliver the material. Jake Gyllenhaal is an immensely versatile actor, and he fits into the role of Detective Loki beautifully. Even for such a recognisable face, I didn't see Mr Gyllenhaal on screen in front of me, I only saw Detective Loki, doing everything in his power to find the missing girls. Hugh Jackman, in addition, performed genuine Academy Award winning acting for this performance. When Keller filled with sorrow, I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. When Keller filled with fury, my fists and jaw clenched. When Keller collapsed in grief, I slumped in my chair. To call his performance gripping would be a mammoth understatement.

Finally, the tension. A trademark of the genre, if you can make your audience's hearts pound in their chests at the right moment, you're on your way to a winning product. Prisoner's has an excellent amount of tension, and by that I don't mean a wealth of it. A balance has to be struck to keep the audience gripped, but to make them really appreciate the tension when it comes by not over-doing it. Prisoners did it so well, I was literally sat on the edge of my seat in one of the closing scenes, and had my heart pounding on a number of occasions. I will be shocked of this film does not attain the prestige it deserves. If you are a fan of the Thriller genre, I really cannot recommend this film enough. Make sure to take your partner or your friends with you, because you're going to want to discuss this masterpiece at length when the credits start to roll.

Let me start by saying, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, as in my opinion, it did everything right. Sure, it had no real substance of a story line (hence the 8/10) but that didn't take much away from the film. The simplistic story also had its advantages, as more time could be dedicated to Dredd doing what Dredd does best, instead of messing around in lengthy conversations. Besides, a detailed emotional story might have made this film a flop, as the cold, ruthless character of Dredd would have been somewhat diminished if that had been the case.

So what made this film for me? Simple, the fact that they weren't afraid to make it an 18. This lends strong evidence to the argument that if you want to make an action film that raises the bar, it has to contain all of the shots that just aren't allowed in a 15 rated film. The drug, SLO- M0, that is used by the junkies in this film to slow their perception of time, allows for stunning, and brutal, scenes that also look great in 3D. The 18 rating also allowed for the director to create villains that you despise and you can understand why the other innocent characters fear them, which engages us as an audience.

The film's script is cheesy, but if you've seen the other Judge Dredd film, that'll hardly be a surprise. And I must admit that Karl Urban does a fantastic job of making the lines still sound good. And overall, the acting is good, which is a relief after seeing so many action films where even the main character can't act..

Overall, a great film. Possibly not the best film to watch on a first date, but if you know what you're getting yourself in for and just want some entertaining action, I really don't think Dredd will disappoint.

I felt compelled to write a quick review of easily the best film to be released so far this year.

The Dark Knight Rises is absolute proof of Christopher Nolan's abilities, because once again, he's blown us away. This film, in my opinion, has everything that the fans wanted to see in the final chapter of an incredible trilogy. I left the cinema feeling wholly satisfied, which was certainly no small feat after witnessing two fantastic prequels, and declaring a few nights ago to myself that Rises would never be able to match The Dark Knight.

But Nolan had the exact right mentality going into this film. He didn't want to hit at the same angle of The Dark Knight. And if you are planning on watching this film in a theatre soon, don't sit there comparing the two like I did. Because they're not aiming to be similar, but to invoke different emotions in the viewer, (which they do equally well.)

The cast of the film are also brilliant. Of course Christian Bale is fantastic as the caped crusader once again, but Michael Cane was a pleasure to watch on screen as was Tom Hardy; (although his character wasn't exactly a complicated one.)

I sat through this near 3 hour long film this afternoon and not once did I check the time, because it was such a pleasure to witness. The beginning sets the scene well, and the film progresses in such an entertaining way that thinking back on it now it just blended together so nicely. Basically, if you like Batman, you'll love The Dark Knight Rises. And I'm sure you'll agree that it's been one of the best trilogy of films you've ever seen.