Must see: The Dark Choices of Prisoners

The names have chilling familiarity - JonBenét, Ashley and Miranda, Kyron - children who've met horrible, tragic ends - or simply disappeared entirely. Prisoners is not a horror film as such, but for anyone who's a parent, the scenario in Prisoners is the ultimate nightmare. Two neighbor families relax over dinner. Their two young girls run off to play, only to utterly vanish. You've probably heard the premise of Prisoners, so let's leave it at that. With a screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski and directed by Canadia Denis Villeneuve (Incendies), Prisoners is a spectacularly well made, profoundly disturbing film - possibly the best crime thriller since The Silence of the Lambs.

There's an gripping simplicity to the story - the stakes and the drama couldn't be more severe - but Villeneuve keeps things on an all too realistic path. As the father who will stop at nothing to learn his daughter's fate, Jackman is phenomenal here. You think he's scary as Wolverine? That's nothing. Jackman takes rage to the most painful threshold imaginable here.

Jake Gyllenhaal simply redefines himself with this performance. It's a different kind of character for him and he equals Jackman in determination and dread at what they may find. Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Paul Dano and Terrence Howard round out the uniformly excellent cast, all turning in excellent performances. 

Prisoners is a film about choice and consequence. I can't say enough good things about Guzikowski's script. He manages to create situations the could easily collapse, but maintains both realism and tremendous unpredictability throughout. The character work here is amazing. His is a name to watch.

Villeneuve had the wisdom and good fortune to hire the legendary Roger Deakins as cinematographer, who captures the neighborhoods and characters in Prisoners with unobtrusive yet unsettling compositions. He and Villeneueve have delivered an amazing looking film.

In the midst of awards season, I'm sad not to see more love for Prisoners. It's ambitious, audacious and hard to take - it pushes past the line of justified immorality in a way few films - and few actors - ever dare to. Hope and despair both get one hell of a workout here, and it's a shame that Prisoners isn't capturing more attention from those who nominate. If you're in need of a drama that challenges and doesn't play it safe, I can't recommend this film enough. It's easily one of the best dramatic thrillers in years.