“Dark and Disturbing”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

Prisoners is a disturbing movie in more ways than one.

The subject matter is disturbing, the action of the characters is disturbing, but most of all the ending is disturbing.

In fact, this movie is a prime example for one of those movies with alternate endings on the DVD version.

Hugh Jackman stars as Keller Dover, a survivalist who, when the movie opens, is out deer hunting with his teenage son.

On the way home, Keller tells his son the most important thing his own father ever taught him: “Be ready.”

Mario Bello plays Keller’s wife, they also have a daughter, Anna, who is six years old, and on Thanksgiving the whole family goes to dinner at the home of their friends and neighbors, Franklin and Nancy Birch, played by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis.

After dinner, Anna and her best friend, Joy Birch, go off playing, and the next thing the parents know is that they don’t know where their daughters are.

A frantic search throughout the house, outside, and back at the Dovers’ house leads to nothing, except that a suspicious RV that had been parked in the neighborhood is now gone, too.

When the police get involved, the investigation is led by Detective Loki, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who has solved every case he has ever been assigned.

The only suspect is the driver of that RV, Alex Jones, played by Paul Dano, who is mentally challenged and lives with his aunt, played by Melissa Leo, but no evidence is found in the RV or at the aunt’s house.

The hours that Anna and Joy are missing become days, and Keller is so desperate that he begins following Alex, the only suspect the police had in the case, and he does more than just follow Alex.

We see a lot of police work from Detective Loki, there is a lot of rain that makes the story and the events even darker, and a couple of suspicious characters lead to nothing.

In fact, at some point in the movie, you might come to the conclusion that the movie goes on too long and is far more dramatic than it need be.

But what an ending it has, and as I said, it could even have more than one ending.

Prisoners is disturbing from beginning to end.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”