Why I Saw It: Slow weekend. Good Cast. Positive Reviews.
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal does a great job here. It's obvious that there is a lot more to his character but the movie doesn't seem too concerned with explaining it. He's the detective handling the case and that's all that's important. He manages to be a good detective without being Batman, which was nice. Hugh Jackman is a father unhinged after his daughter goes missing. He's the worst case scenario about what can happen to a father whose daughter goes missing. Maria Bello plays the girl's mother and she is a different worst case scenario. Terrence Howard and Viola Davis has much smaller roles. Their daughter goes missing as well and they are the far more reasonably responding parents. Paul Dano is a suspect with something to hide and plays it as you'd expect him to. Then there Melissa Leo who doesn't get nearly as much screen time, at least initially, as I'd assumed.
Plot: It's a mystery/thriller so I can only speak about this in broad strokes. When it all comes together, I was mostly pleased. Most of it all follows and the connections made during the investigation all make sense. I accidentally guessed a couple of the twists early on which doesn't normally happens. I don't know if that is a fluke or a bad sign. I'm leaning toward the former. The investigation elements are handled better than grief of the families missing the daughters. They aim a little big there. It's a grim movie and almost everything happens while raining or at night, so don't expect a lot cheerful imagery. I have to say I did rather love how it ended.
Elephant in the Room: How long is it? Yeah, it's two and a half hours long which is generally a run time associated with movies that use the word "epic" in the summary. I didn't mind the length too much, but to make the length worth it, they have to stuff it with a complex enough case to justify it and that gets a little exhausting. After about 2 hours I did start to wonder how much more they could add to it. In other words, be aware that it is long. If you come ready for that it is worthwhile.
To Sum Things Up:
I liked this a good deal. This is some of the best work I've seen from Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. It is a detective movie that gets it right. This does not seem like something that could be covered in an episode of SVU as so many in this genre do. I feel bad for it because it is in the sweet-spot where it isn't prestige enough to be an awards player and it's too dark to be a breakout hit (although it didn't open first this weekend, so maybe I could be surprised).
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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