It’s appropriate for Dennis Villenueve’s first English language film that he’s employed one of Western cinema’s greatest tropes: “Give me back my daughter!” The Québécois director overcomes the setpieces of Intense Yelling, Wall Punching and Growly Man Faces by lingering on complex characters and moral questions, to masterfully create a film with a crescendoing, gut-punching sense of dread.
Jackman plays family man and carpenter Keller Dover, whose daughter is kidnapped one rainy Thanksgiving, along with the daughter of his best friend Terrence Howard. Suspicions immediately fall onto intellectually challenged Paul Dano, whose rusty RV was seen in the area. When the stoic detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is unable to charge Dano, the two men embark on conflicting crusades for justice. The supporting cast are superb. Maria Bello, Viola Davis and Howard covering the gamut of parental helplessness; hysteria, numbness and desperate hope. However, the film belongs to Jackman and Gyllenhaal, who both imbue their characters with nuance and complexity. Jackman’s everyman-turned-vigilante seems initially heroic; the protective father pushed to extremes. But as his actions turn increasingly abhorrent, his ruthlessness reveals a haunted viciousness. Gyllenhaal adds layers to his orphan character, determined to protect all but connecting with none. As Jackman confines himself to the desolate wreck of his former home and Gyllenhaal wanders, resting nowhere, the damaged foundations of their childhoods drive their actions and emotions. As the characters’ judgement bends under the pressure, Villeneuve’s slow, ominous pacing echoes intelligent thrillers like Zodiac and Se7en, painting an increasingly bleak picture. The arresting cinematography echoes the tone. Recession-hit communities are coated in browns and greys; the edges of lush woodlands and open waters tainted by the search for young bodies. A brilliant and macabre examination of trauma in childhood and parenthood, and theshifting forms of evil.