Prisoners

From its opening shot, it is clear that Prisoners is not going to be a barrel of laughs. Indeed, I'm sure there are more chuckles to be had at a reading of a will. Starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, the film has soared to the top of the US box office and is one of the most harrowing cinematic experiences of this year.

When Keller Dover's (Jackman) young daughter and her friend go missing from their home in small-town America, the police investigation – headed up by Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) – seems to be making little progress. Dover decides to take matters into his own hands in a desperate attempt to save his daughter. However, it soon becomes clear that he will stop at nothing to get his family back.

Directed by Hollywood-newbie Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners is certainly a powerful piece of cinema and really rather harrowing in many places. Let's begin with the two central performances from Jackman and Gyllenhaal which are absolutely superb. Jackman's morally-ambiguous and tormented character is powerfully rendered by Jackman, whose face seems to grow more and more drawn and haggard as the film progresses.

Gyllenhaal's turn as the detective with a troubled past was also impressive and I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that he gives a career-best performance. The subtleties that he creates in the character, complete with a convincing nervous facial tick, were very engaging to watch and Gyllenhaal has established himself as an actor with significant screen prescence. Placed opposite Jackman, the two really are the major strengths of the film.

The level of tension which is sustained throughout the film is, at times, quite unbearable: just what a thriller should be. Thanks to this, the 153 minute running time never drags, even if the film-makers could have been slightly more economical and shaved fifteen minutes off (even if only for the sake of my nerves). Some brilliantly-conceived sequences kept the action and drama alive as the plot took more twists and turns than a bob-sleigh run. My attempts at guessing where the plot was heading invariably failed and this is a sure sign that a thriller is working.

Aside from this, the film is violent and doesn't shy away from creating some very difficult-to-watch scenes (especially in the torture sequences). Jackman's transformation from the loving father to the desperate and merciless vigilante helped in strengthening the violence depicted: this isn't inconsequential, entertaining violence. You really will wince. The film's subject matter was, of course, going to be highly emotive but at no point does the film exploit this fact by 'free-wheeling' cinematically: the focus is on the reactions of the parents and authorities, rather than on the predicament of the children themselves.

The supporting cast were fine, although the female characters felt a little under-written and seemed to spend most of their time either crying or under the influence of sleeping pills rather than playing an active part in the drama. Perhaps the biggest problem in the film is its unevenness: yes, the film maintains a high level of dread throughout, but some sequences seemed to lose the tension which kept the audience engaged. I found myself wondering about the practicalities of what was happening ('shouldn't he be calling for back up now?!'), rather than being caught up in the moment. A sign, I think, of the film not being as engaging as it should have been.

These minor issues aside, Prisoners is a convincing thriller with some performances which are truly outstanding. From the minute it starts to its surprising ending, it grabs you by the throat and never really lets go. A taut and intense experience which may just make you rush home and stick Mamma Mia! in the DVD player...

Clapperboard Rating: * * * *

Prisoners is released nationwide on 27^th September

White House Down

If Hollywood is to be believed, it would appear that the safest house in the world is anything but. White House Down is a reincarnation of the straight-faced Olympus Has Fallen which saw Gerard Butler save the President of the United States as the White House crumbled amid rocket launchers and machine guns. This time, it falls to Channing Tatum to protect the President (Jamie Foxx) from attack and does so in a much more playful and bonkers manner than Olympus Has Fallen. That, however, doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

You only need to see a few films from director Roland Emmerich's back catalogue to realise what sort of territory we are in with White House Down. Emmerich has attempted to destroy the White House once before in Independence Day and his other disaster films Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 are all equally as crazy and hectic as his latest. Channing Tatum plays a Capitol policeman who, whilst on a tour of the White House with his daughter, becomes entangled in a terrorist attack and must protect the President whilst also looking after his daughter.

At first, Channing Tatum may seem like an odd choice to play the central role in an action blockbuster such as this and he has come under a fair amount of criticism (most of it quite unfair). Whilst it's true that Tatum often dances between cinematic eye-candy and brute muscle, his performance in White House Down does make some attempt at creating character depth – helped by his character's relationship with his daughter (played by Joey King). For a film of this type – absurdly ludicrous, bonkers and chaotic – Tatum puts in a perfectly adequate performance and becomes quite likeable (even when doing doughnuts in the presidential limo on the White House lawn). Aside from Tatum, Jamie Foxx appears to be having great fun as a rocket launcher-branding president and the ever-reliable Maggie Gyllenhaal stays cool in what can only be called a bad day at the office.

The action moves along at a fair old pace and never really drags. Indeed, it is so stupidly mad that it never really has the chance to lag. Emmerich is clearly in his element when making films such as this and, as these type of films go, it really is watchable. What makes this film much more enjoyable than Olympus Has Fallen is the fact that it appears to take itself less seriously. I found myself chuckling throughout the film (not at it, but with it) and the on-screen interaction between the two leads was amusing to watch. Yes, the action is outrageous, yes, the script is a case of painting (or should that be writing?!) by numbers and the editing could be tighter, but when the film-makers are clearly having so much fun with a genre film such as this, what's the point of moaning about its lack of lucidity?

If you have to pick between the two, White House Down is more enjoyable than Olympus Has Fallen. But let's hope that the studios have had enough of blowing up the Oval Office because, let's face it, more than two such films in a year could really become grating. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * *