From a new writer (his only other credit is "Contraband" starring Mark freaking Walhberg) and a director making his first English-language film, and not adapted from any source material that I could find (rare in a world so chock full of mystery/crime novels), the flick features a great cast. Hugh Jackman, Terrance Howard, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis and Maria Bello all exist in various states of being underrated, and Gyllenhall has proven that given the right material, he can be more than a pretty face. This story of a Thanksgiving kidnapping of two young girls promises to bring a small town to its knees and push two families to the edge.
So how is it?
The Good: The cast, as mentioned above, is stellar. Jackman is tremendous, and far more savage in this role than he ever was as Wolverine. (Seriously) Dano does "creepy" as well as anyone in Hollywood, and brings a sense of unsettled malaise to every scene he's in. Gyllenhall is great. He manages to bring a quiet intensity and quirky believability to a character who very easily could have been one-note. The atmosphere in this flick is top-notch as well, as the flick is extremely intense and effective, despite a long running time. The fact that this flick doesn't seem as long as, say, Zodiac (sorry, Jake!) is a testament to the effectiveness of the filmmaking and cast. Despite a number of Red Herrings, the plot never seems to be wandering for wandering's sake, and the resolution was a surprise, which is always the point of a mystery, isn't it? The best compliment I can pay this movie is that it feels like a good book of this genre, despite being a wholly original story. That's hard to pull off. Kudos.
The Bad: Gyllenhall's character suffers from a lack of characterization, which is a shame given the strength of his performance and the fact that on the surface, his character may well have been the most interesting in the whole movie if given a chance to be fleshed out. I think a few more Gyllenhall-centric scenes at the expense of the plot could have made his Detective Loki into a legitimately great movie cop. Additionally, the crushing dread and despair of the movie, which jumps right into the mystery with very little set up or framing, is really a grind, given the long runtime. You'll feel taxed at the end of this movie, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing, it is on the edge of being too much. This maybe would have been even better as a TV miniseries on premium cable?
All in all this is a bleak, intense mystery that stands up as a solid example of the genre. It's not SAYING anything that hasn't been said, but what it is doing is letting some great performers work on some meaty material and putting together an all around movie experience that pretty effectively duplicates the experience of reading a novel. That's not easy to do. The performances are the main draw here, but the atmosphere is pretty damn effective as well.
8/10. A very good, if not great flick for grown ups. If you haven't noticed, those are kind of rare, you guys.
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