Prisoners (2013), R, 3 stars

Gyllenhaal trying to calm Jackman down.

Any parent's worst nightmare is realizing and finding out that your child is lost, missing, or dead. The realistic nature of trusting your instincts depends on the parent's knowledge of what is going on in an area of your neighborhood. It's not a perfect world full of sunshine and rainbows. But, the fear of how your child is doing while missing is worse. It is worse because how do you know how your child is doing and who is this person that took the child away and what is the connection between that kidnapper and the victim or the kidnapper and the victim's parents? There are so many questions to be answered and that is germain to this thriller.

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is a deeply religious person who attends a Thanksgiving dinner at the Birches, who are their neighbors and friends. Anna and Joy, the young daughters of both neighbors, go outside after dinner and go to Anna's house to get her whistle, but somehow they never come back. All of the parents are freaking out about their daughters taken away and Keller calls Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal). Loki goes out and investigates and finds an abandoned RV and confronts the driver, Alex (Paul Dano). Alex panics and crashes the RY into the trees.

Alex is taken away and questioned by Loki. Alex is tested and it is revealed that he has a low I.Q. and has the mind of a 10-year-old child. So, tests turn out to be inconclusive because of his condition. He tells the detective that he has never seen any children. Loki goes to see Holly (Melissa Leo), Alex's aunt. Holly has spent the majority of her life taking care of Alex because his parents have died when he was young.

Since the police cannot find any evidence on Alex, he is released within two days. Keller is really angry and decides to confront him on the parking lot and Alex says something that Keller thinks is proof. Keller takes and kidnaps Alex into an apartment building. Keller tortures Alex for information for days and Franklin (Terrence Howard) supports Keller. What can he tell Keller and the Birches including Franklin's wife, Nancy (Viola Davis)?

Gyllenhaal investigating the case.

This movie provides realistic situations and debatable decisions that could lead to tough consequences. The thrilling element is the realistic panic inside a parent's house. I do not know what that dire situation looks like because of the terrible nature. Every parent wants to be involved with a child's security. The sense of dread into finding the missing children or not is absorbing.

The crime thriller elements are explosive but here's why I did not give it a perfect rating and I have to explain it quite vaguely because it reveals the person who took them away. A few characters decide to take action on each other and it spirals down to an implausible set-up to a really corny reason as to why the kidnapping happened in the first place. The ending also is pretty questionable as to why the director, Denis Villeneuve, concluded the way he wanted to. It's kind of a "life-goes-on" ending.

However, the strongest element of this movie is the myriad of thrilling performances. Jackman gives probably his best performance of his career as a deeply religious father searching for the truth but has to undergo some risks. Gyllenhaal is quietly convincing as the detective. Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano are quite compelling too. The bleak nature of a search for the children starts with a brilliant two-thirds of the movie, but ends on a sour note. However, this is a good, realistic portrait of an investigation behind the kidnapping and search of missing children. It is quite compelling.

***