A grueling and stressful, but powerful drama. When a film portrays or even implies mistreatment of children, audiences can understandably become quite uncomfortable, myself included. However, with such a strong cast (Jackman, Gyllenhaal, Bello, Howard, Davis) I had to give this a look. The cast does not disappoint. Jackman and Gyllenhaal drive the film with palpable passion. Whenever they share the screen, they set resonating a magnificent tension.

The film downplays any action, but pumps up the drama by bringing hard-heads head to head. For all the riveting pressure, it's a surprisingly quiet movie with a gentle sure pace and an independent feature texture.

It's a thriller, and generally speaking, I'm not a lover of thrillers. Yet, this one pulled me in and impressed me right up to just before the third act where a crucial character behaves in a crucially uncharacteristic way. That disappointment drops the film from the A range. The film also avoids resolution of the interesting ethical conundrums it so artfully presents.

The tone and subject matter remind me of Mystic River or In the Bedroom, though Prisoners bests both of those. And again, a great job by Jackman. In times of family crisis, who wouldn't want The Wolverine for a dad?

-- Books by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony --