Denis Villeneuve's 2013 thriller Prisoners is currently climbing the charts on Apple TV. The 150-plus-minute kidnapping drama made almost three times its budget at the box office and landed on numerous year-end Top 10 lists upon release.
The film stars Hugh Jackman as suburban Connecticut father Keller Dover, whose young daughter vanishes on Thanksgiving. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki investigating the case, while Jackman's Dover takes matters into his own hands. Paul Dano plays a young man with an intellectual disability whom Dover suspects of the kidnapping.
Aaron Guzikowski wrote the script in 2009, basing it on his own short story. The script made that year's Black List before being shopped to stars and directors, reportedly including Leonardo DiCaprio and Antoine Fuqua, before landing with Villeneuve.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the film with an enveloping atmosphere of menace. In one famous sequence, Jackman's character tortures Dano's suspect. Jackman reportedly improvised brutal hammer swings, with one swing coming so close to Dano's head that it genuinely terrified the actor and caused him to collapse to the floor.
The film takes a darker turn in its second half, introducing torture, false leads, and an apparent occult kidnapping conspiracy spanning decades. Villeneuve and Deakins elevate the fairly standard kidnapping thriller material through their craftsmanship and mood. The film is drawing fresh audiences to Apple TV ahead of Villeneuve's upcoming Dune Part Three.