Every once in a while, a film comes around and just takes everyone by complete surprise. You see the trailers and they don’t give you much to chew on, and then, BOOM, people start spreading word-of-mouth about this unbelievable film that they just saw. I’ve only known this to happen a few times in my generation, where buzz is insanely better than the promotions themselves. One such example, I can remember is when Fight Club hit home video and people were kicking themselves that they missed it in theaters. Another is the Blindside, which had mediocre marketing but audiences gave it a big push after release. However, 2013 might have a sleeper hit on its way, and the buzz coming out of last night’s screening is nothing but magnetic.
Telluride hosted the first sneak peak of the new film Prisoners, which stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Director, Denis Villeneuve, told the moviegoers that, “This movie was finished last Friday, and it means you are the first audience ever to see this movie. For political reasons I don’t understand, this is a sneak preview, but deep in my heart this is the premiere tonight.”
The film sounds a bit like Taken, if that movie had a deeper and more profound message behind the vigilante father. Hugh Jackman plays a dad who is desperate to find his daughter, and friend who were kidnapped. Gyllenhaal plays an officer who is trying to keep Jackman from going over the edge. The reports from THR and other sites suggest that the audiences were completely enthralled by the cast performances, and the “unconventional, mazelike intellectual whodunnit,” style narrative. Even Variety called it “a spellbinding thriller in the vein of “Se7en,” which if anyone remembers that movie knows that is a bold statement.
This is not to say that Prisoners will end up as the best film of 2013, but I think it damn sure has sneaked up on us. Most people expected movies like Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave to be stellar films, but Prisoners wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
This might be one insane movie to brace yourselves for, Renegades. The tense thriller Prisoners will hit theaters everywhere September 20th, 2013!
Source: THR