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Near perfect movie up until the last 15 min

posted 8 years ago by Forlong
5 replies | jump to latest

Oh my God, this movie was intense as hell. Great cinematography, great acting, great everything. I can't remember the last time I was this invested in a thriller.

HERE BE SPOILERS

Then came the reveal and everything fell apart. It was so frustrating.
Yeah, some details were a little obvious (like the killer-husband being the one in the priests basement and Alex being the kid of that poor lady who watches that home video everyday).
And admittedly there were some plot points that felt contrived, cliché (like the cell ringing just in time to keep Loki from discovering Alex) and a little too convenient (oh, that priest is a sex offender AND has a body of a child killer in his house?).

But that reveal with the old lady? Come on! I was actually hoping her husband was still alive and even that would have been bad.
I could not take the movie serious anymore at that point.
Everything felt like it was from a poor b-movie from the moment on Keller got to the "aunt"s house.
Why did she let him in?
Why didn't he struck her down the second he got in the house?
Why did she insist that he drinks a third of the spiked drink and then let him stop at a fourth (max)? It didn't seem to affect him much.
Why didn't she shoot him by the time he went into the hole? (And please don't tell me we were supposed to take what she said to him seriously, like "I can't wait to throw your dead daughter in there with you", because that was *beep* ridiculous)
Why did she take the time to inject the daughter something to kill her? Why not shoot her, if she wants her dead and why the suicide by proxy thing? That is not just a little contrived, that is horrible writing just to create a happy ending.
Why didn't the police examine the black car? Surely they would have noticed someone being alive under it right away.

But seriously, most of all: that old lady?!
Did anyone actually buy that?
I mean sure, she could have played the sweet innocent granny all the time but she didn't appear different enough in the end to make it the least bit believable. Maybe it was bad acting, I don't know, but who thinks anyone could pull that of realistically?
You'd have to be pretty *beep* angry and/or psychotic to wage a war against God like that (boy, what a stupid motive anyway) but we didn't get that at all from her. "Once my husband left me, I had to take over" WTF?

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[–] tatermitchell36-752-853277 8 years ago

The "flaws" you pinted out were just things you didn't like. they weren't flaws in the movie. i believe the entire movie to be perfect

[–] RomeoQuint 8 years ago

Her motive=her child dying of cancer.

She went totaly crazy and started this "war against god".

[–] Jack_Carleton 8 years ago

Agreed. For the most part, this was an incredible piece of taut drama, gripping the viewer with every advancement of the plot.

But the reveal... Well, it just felt like the payoff did not match the build up.

[–] Robbmonster 8 years ago

I have to admit I had the same reaction.

For the most part, Prisoners was aiming for a kind of ultra-realism, but then in the final reel it turned into a kind of connect-the-dots, throw in a couple of twists, and ramp up the thriller aspects.

Tonally, those last 15 minutes felt out of place compared to the tone of the rest of the story.

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[–] cotysmith08 8 years ago

I sort of agree. The semi happy ending didn't fit in with the tone of the rest of the movie. It would have been much more fitting if the girls would have died and Keller was left in that pit.