Unstoppable (2010) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Tony Scott

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Dunn, Ethan Suplee

Unstoppable is "based on a true story" of a runaway train that tore through Western Pennsylvania during one fall day in 2008.     I don't know much about the real story, but regardless of how loosely Unstoppable plays with the facts, this is a thriller full of palpable suspense and energy.    

The film opens on a regular day in Western Pa.    A new railroad employee named Will Colson (Pine) is teamed with savvy veteran Frank Barnes (Washington) to pick up loads on their run.     Little do they know that miles away, a dopey yard worker parking a train jumps off before allowing it to stop.    The train at first coasts away, but soon gathers speed up to 75 mph because the braking system wasn't engaged.     In the words of railway supervisor Connie Hooper (Dawson), "the train has become a missile."     It is also carrying enough explosives to level a small town if it were to crash there. 

Frank and Will narrowly avoid a collision with the runaway train when they detour off the main track, but decide to chase it down with the plan to connect to the back of the train and slow it down before it crashes.     I'm not 100% certain if their plan isn't foolhardy, but it becomes the only hope anyone has of avoiding a disaster.    Other attempts to derail, board, or slow the train failed.    It's amusing to see the yard worker watching the train on TV and praying tirelessly for something to bail him out of the deep shit he's in.     Would it shock anyone to learn that he had worked his last shift in the railroad industry?

The train and the visual effects are the stars of Unstoppable, so director Scott (like the train) goes full throttle.     Washington and Pine are an effective team trying desperately to stop a catastrophe from happening.      Washington is especially convincing in his well-honed knowledge of trains.     I couldn't say if he's accurate, but he sure sounded like he was.     The locomotive itself is indeed a scary machine that destroys anyone or anything that gets in its way.     It is a perfect storm of Newton's laws, but what kind of force can stop it from staying in motion before it derails on an elevated curve near Scranton?     Therein lies the gripping suspense.

It's difficult not to be sucked into the drama.     Railroad executives consider the best way to save their train and avoid a catastrophic crash which would cost them billions in damage.     Oscar Galvin (Dunn) shouts orders into his speakerphone in an effort to save the company, lives, and his neck; not necessarily in that order.       We kinda sorta know how it all will play out, but the joy of watching Unstoppable is mostly because it is so exciting and extremely well-made.     You can't ask for much more.     

Match Point (2005) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Woody Allen

Starring:  Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Matthew Goode, Scarlett Johansson, Brian Cox, Emily Mortimer

Woody Allen explored the themes covered by Match Point in his 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors.     In Crimes and Misdemeanors, an affluent doctor has his mistress killed when she threatens to tell his wife of their affair.   The doctor fears he would lose everything so he hires a hit man to kill her.     The difference is the doctor is troubled by guilt caused by his religious upbringing.    Tennis pro Chris Wilton (Rhys-Meyers) has no such qualms.    To Chris, his newfound wealth and life of privilege are more than enough justification to rub out his mistress.    He doesn't seem to have much issue sleeping at night.

Allen's career as a writer/director/actor has shown great versatility.    The same man who made Sleeper also made Annie Hall, Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Midnight In Paris, Small Time Crooks, and Match Point.    These are vastly different films, showing creativity that most writers and directors can't touch.     Most people would view Match Point and not even realize Woody Allen made it, because it seems so vastly different from his previous works.     It is indeed his most cynical and damning in its depiction of human nature.    

The aforementioned Chris Wilton is a former tennis player turned tennis pro at a local London club.    He befriends Tom (Goode), whose father is wealthy and who immediately invites Chris into his inner circle.    Chris is soon introduced to Tom's sister Chloe (Mortimer), who falls for Chris and the two get married.     Chris likes her well enough, but sees her more as an avenue to the good life.     His father-in-law Alec (Cox) gives him a cushy job with his firm and life seems good.

Things are complicated when Chris meets Nola (Johansson), who is Tom's fiancee.   She is an American actress looking to hit the big time.      Chris and Nola take a liking to each other and begin a passionate affair.     Things become further complicated when Nola falls for Chris, who is not willing to leave his wife or more importantly his life of privilege and wealth.     Nola threatens to tell Chloe of the affair, which would send his world crashing down.     To Chris, that is worth killing for.

Naturally, Chris is not an expert hitman and his staged robbery/murder quickly leads the police to him.     As one character puts it, "You behaved like someone waiting to be caught."     Even though Chris appears to be one step away from being arrested, things seem to hinge on a moment when Chris attempts to throw away a ring from the staged robbery into the Thames.     The ring hits a handrail and lands on the cement.     Will this destroy him or exonerate him?     I won't reveal, but the outcome fits right in with Allen's view of justice in this seemingly godless universe.

Chris is not one bit likable, but yet we care what happens to him.     Do we care because we care about him or is it because we want to see how he worms his way out of this jam, assuming he does at all?     It is certain that he is reprehensible, but his story remains fascinating.     Allen asks us to identify with his amoral justifcations even if we don't agree with them.     People have killed for a whole lot less than the reasons Chris has.     Nola is no bargain either, but her heart has its reasons for wanting to be with Chris and for acting scornfully when she knows she can't.   

Match Point contains Allen's least sympathetic characters and some of the most intrigue.     We know Nola's love for Chris will lead to doom.     We know Chris will step on whomever he must to continue to live his affluent life.     Things can't really end happily for such people.     For Chris, staying out of jail is his most pressing concern.     The rest, such as killing Nola, he can live with.   

The Hustler (1961) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Robert Rossen

Starring:  Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott, Murray Hamilton

"You've got talent, but you're a loser."    That is Bert Gordon's simple explanation as to why Fast Eddie Felson isn't ready for prime time in the world of high-stakes pool hustling.      In the first half-hour of The Hustler, Fast Eddie loses all of his money in a grueling 40-hour match with the legendary Minnesota Fats.      We know in movies like this that Fast Eddie will face Minnesota Fats again, but will he be able to win this time?     

The matches between Minnesota Fats and Fast Eddie are straight-up games matching wits and skill.    How was Minnesota Fats able to withstand Eddie's skill and win the first time?    "Character," Bert says.    "When he took a break, he washed up, cleaned off his hands, and started himself anew."     Those who know how to win in any sport know that there will be setbacks and early deficits to be overcome.     The winners are the ones who can adjust and come back.     The losers often don't know what hit them and can't adjust.     Fast Eddie makes his living in between matches with Fats by hustling in small-time, seedy pool halls where he makes the most of his babyfaced grin.     Of course, there are times he hustles those who aren't so quick to give their money away.    Fast Eddie winds up with broken thumbs in these instances.   

The Hustler is the story of Fast Eddie and his rise from early defeat to victory, but he pays a dear price for it.     The characters, except Fats, are busy hustling each other and playing the angles to gain an advantage.     Living like this is exhausting and dangerous work, but it is what they do best so they do it.      It is both a blessing and a curse that Fast Eddie meets Sarah (Laurie) in a bus station, a lame alcoholic who hangs out at a bus station and claims to go to college two days a week.    She has no job, but has enough money to live in a shabby apartment and drink.    She is lonely, needy, and at first tells Eddie they shouldn't be together.    Maybe she's right.    Fast Eddie is also lonely.    His world is not one that usually allows for intimate contact with others.     Sarah finds she is overmatched when trying to become part of Eddie's world.  

After absorbing the loss to Fats, Eddie is itching for a rematch.   He enters into what is tantamount to a deal with the devil by asking Bert to set up matches for him.     Sarah pleads to come along with Eddie when they travel to Kentucky to take on a rich mark.    Bert sees Sarah as a weakness for Eddie and through not-so-subtle manipulation manages to get her out of the way, although I won't reveal how.    Bert coldly sees this as building Eddie's character, but Eddie has other opinions about it.

Who wins or loses the final showdown between Eddie and Fats isn't material anyway.    The Hustler isn't about who wins but why people win while others lose.     Those used to watching Jackie Gleason in full bombast mode in The Honeymooners and Smokey and the Bandit may be in for a shock when watching him here.     His Minnesota Fats is a quiet man of few words and fewer wasted moves; no longer needing to remind others of his greatness.     He plays to win, not to hustle, and sits by in observant silence as Eddie and Bert have their own final showdown.     He has seen up-and-comers like Eddie try to make a name for themselves at his expense and will see more before he's through.   He has also seen guys like Bert threaten to break people's body parts and their spirits.    Gleason received a deserved Oscar nomination for his work, which depends more on Gleason's screen presence and quiet confidence.

Scott also received an Oscar nomination as the analytical, cold, money-driven Bert Gordon.     He is the type of guy Eddie must get in bed with in order to be a big-time pool player.    Bert does his homework and knows how to manipulate with pointed criticisms.     Scott is at home in this role.    His eyes glow when he discusses the prospects of winning.     He doesn't shoot pool, but he is every bit the hustler Eddie is.    

Paul Newman became a star not just because of his looks, but because he was willing to star in film noir roles which showcase the dark side of human nature.     Fast Eddie is the protagonist, but he is full of flaws and unethical motives.     His relationship with Sarah may likely prosper in another world, but in The Hustler it is doomed from the start.    Sarah represents an alternate route for Eddie, but there is no room for her on Eddie's journey to dingy pool halls and the lure of big bucks.   

Election (1999) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Alexander Payne

Starring:  Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Molly Hagan, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell


If student council played any part in my high school life, I don't recall it.     Maybe our high school had student council elections, but I'm not about to wrack my brain to remember them.    The student council election in Election is taken as seriously as a presidential election, with candidates stumping for votes and engaging in underhanded shenanigans to win.   For type-A personalities like Tracy Flick (Witherspoon), winning the student council presidency at Carver High School has to happen.   Her entire self-esteem depends on it.    Anyone who bakes 450 cupcakes with "Pick Flick" on them isn't going to take the news of a defeat gracefully.

Standing in her way, behind the scenes, is teacher Jim McAllister (Broderick), who at first tolerates Tracy always being the first to raise her hand to answer a question.   But then he grows to loathe her enough to ensure that she doesn't win.     "People like Tracy Flick must be stopped," Jim states in voice over narration.   Why does he detest her?   For one thing, she was involved in an affair with a teacher friend of Jim's teacher friend that cost the friend his job.   Another might be a secret attraction to her.  He might hate himself for thinking of her like that, but that doesn't mean he can stop doing so.  No matter what his reasoning, he feels he must throw a roadblock in Tracy's future.

Election is a black comedy with people trying to maintain a facade of morality and fair play, while hiding secret obsessions and ulterior motives.      The characters are either perpetrators or victims, depending on who you ask.     It is narrated at various times by Jim, Tracy, Paul Metzler (Klein), and his sister Tammy (Campbell).     Paul is a dopey, popular jock recruited by Jim to oppose Tracy for student council president.   Tammy decides to run because Paul unwittingly stole her girlfriend and wants revenge.    Tammy denies being a lesbian.   "I believe in the person, not the gender.  It just so happens that every person I've ever been attracted to is a girl."   Tammy's campaign promise:  If I'm elected student council president, I'll ensure we never have to sit through these assemblies again," which is met with a standing ovation by the students.

Jim is a well-liked teacher, but his personal life is a bit of a mess.    He and his wife are unable to conceive a child.     Sex with his wife has become workmanlike, with her ordering him to "fill me up."   He doesn't find much solace in porn, but he does in Dave's ex-wife Linda, with whom he attempts to have an affair.    That doesn't work out well for him.    He is stood up at the motel room he books for them and a bee stings him in the eyelid causing his eye to look like it went through twelve rounds with Rocky Balboa.

Teachers like Jim have seen students like Tracy come and go.    Each graduating class has two-faced schemers like her that rankle others to their core.   You want to introduce her to Valium.   Jim decides to take a stand against Tracy, who is much more manipulative than her cheerful demeanor would indicate.  He finds he's no match.    All of this is narrated in nostalgic fashion by the characters, as if they are reflecting on a magical time in their lives and they are remembering it with fondness.    Jim especially has a way of looking on the bright side of things, which dissolves quickly when he sees Tracy again long after the election and its aftermath are over.

Writer-director Payne creates a satire that cheerfully skewers high school politics and sexual politics.     Broderick is a million miles removed from Ferris Bueller.    He is a man at war with his desires who makes all the wrong moves when he should've just left well enough alone.  Witherspoon is prim, proper, falsely cheerful, and naturally underhanded.   Winning to her is the only acceptable result in anything she does, so it's almost sad to see her crying when she receives word she may have lost the election.  What will she do with the remaining cupcakes?

Payne further illustrates his gift for subtle comedy in films like Sideways and The Descendants.     He has an understanding of human nature.     He sees that people sometimes just don't get out of their own way and are at the mercy of whatever drives them.     Jim would've been just fine if Tracy Flick never entered his life.    But she did and despite his attempts to defeat her, he finds there is another person just like her lurking right around the corner.  

Rocky Balboa (2006) * * *

Directed by:  Sylvester Stallone

Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Milo Ventimiglia, Antonio Tarver, Geraldine Hughes, Tony Burton, A.J. Benza

I must admit that after Rocky IV and Rocky V, I had little interest in Rocky Balboa, the sixth installment in the Rocky series.   However, I enjoyed it for the most part because it contains some genuinely touching dramatic moments.  It provides a glimpse into the world of Rocky Balboa after his ring years ended.   

Rocky still lives in South Philly.    Adrian has been dead for about a decade due to "woman cancer" as Rocky puts it as only he can.  He owns a small restaurant named after her and he regales customers with stories of his boxing days.  We even see Spider Ricco (the boxer Rocky defeated in the opening brawl of the original film)  hanging around doing odd jobs.  Rocky stills pals around with Paulie (Young), who works again at the meat-packing plant Rocky used for training.  Times get tough for Paulie, who is laid off after many years on the job.  

Rocky's son Robert (Ventimiglia) is a stockbroker who can't escape the fact that people only associate with him because he is Rocky Balboa's son.   He believes, perhaps correctly, that the only reason he is employed is because his bosses are Rocky fans.   Due to this, he maintains a distant, evasive relationship with his father.  Rocky also befriends Marie (Hughes), who was the teenage girl he had a long conversation with in the original film.   ("If you hang out with yo-yos, you get yo-yo friends.")   Marie is all grown up now and they begin a supportive friendship that may one day blossom into love. 

Balboa, despite seeming reasonably happy with his life, decides to reapply for a boxing license.   The 60ish Balboa is awarded the license after an impassioned speech to the boxing commission.  He wants to fight a few local fights because he feels the urge the fight again.  He dubs this as "The Beast", which he explains is something that ex-fighters go through when they spend their whole lives fighting and then try to adjust to life away from the ring.   Rocky is unexpectedly thrown back into the spotlight after an ESPN piece airs stating that Rocky would win a computerized fight with current heavyweight champion Mason "The Line" Dixon (played by real-life fighter Antonio Tarver).  The name Mason "The Line" Dixon doesn't quite hold up when compared to names like Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang.  

Dixon, feeling a mite disrespected, wants to fight Balboa in the ring to prove he can beat him.  Rocky is 60 and has arthritic joints, but Dixon doesn't care.  I was reminded of the dialogue in Coming To America where one character says how Rocky Marciano beat Joe Louis in a fight and another responds, "Joe Louis was 78 years old when they fought."  Dixon doesn't seem to realize that the computer was gauging Balboa in his prime, but oh never mind.

Rocky Balboa, like every other Rocky film, is geared towards the fight at the end.  The fight, of course, is competitive and goes the 12-round distance.   Rocky getting pummeled in one round would be a realistic ending most likely, but not the one Rocky fans are looking for, so the fight is choreographed to have Rocky stand a puncher's chance of beating the champion who is 30 years his junior.

The movie works better when it explores Rocky's life as he tries to move on from the ring.  This may be the first Rocky film in which Paulie isn't tipsy in every scene he's in, so the two actually have meaningful conversations and we see what is at the heart of their friendship.   I also enjoyed the payoff of Robert's issues, which involve a heart-to-heart with his father.   Dixon's manager L.C. Luko (Benza) isn't a slick villain like George Washington Duke in Rocky V.    He just wants to promote a fight because that's how he earns his living and he sees an angle which will earn his client money and respect.   

I won't say who wins the fight.  It's immaterial to what makes Rocky Balboa a fitting ending to the series.  Instead, its strengths lie in seeing some life breathed into characters that had become stale over the course of the previous five films.  I see no need for Stallone to proceed with a seventh installment.  The last thing we need is Rocky battling in the ring looking like Burgess Meredith. 

Notes on a Scandal (2006) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Richard Eyre

Starring:  Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson

Barbara Covett is an elderly schoolteacher who suffers from acute loneliness.     She writes of this in her diary, which is filled with entries depicting her contempt for her students and her desire to find someone to spend her days with other than her sickly cat.     She is the type of teacher students pray they don't get, mostly because she comes across as a stern, aloof taskmaster who takes little time relating to them.     Her job has become routine until tall blonde Sheba Hart begins working at the school.     Sheba's arrival inflames her desires.    They become friends.    Sheba sees Barbara as a kindly mentor while Barbara sees Sheba as a potential mate.     

Their relationship is at the heart of Notes On A Scandal, which becomes very complicated when the married Sheba begins an ill-advised affair with a 15-year old student.      Barbara discovers the affair and grows jealous, using the affair as a way of keeping Sheba close to her while acting as a confidant to her friend.     Barbara isn't at all interested in the boy's well-being or even Sheba's necessarily.     Based on her diary entries, which we hear in cold voiceover narration by Dench, she disapproves of Sheba's family, which consists of a husband about 20 years her senior and a child with Down Syndrome.     She sees them as "bohemian".   She may even see Sheba in that light.     Barbara is clearly infatuated, but doesn't seem to like her very much.    She doesn't seem to like anyone that much, but she's lonely enough that anyone who is kind to her will become her obsession.

The introduction of 15-year old Stephen Connolly (Simpson), a gifted art student who clearly has a crush on Sheba.     She's flattered by the attention and growing tired of her husband, which is a recipe for disaster when she and the teen begin an affair.     Once Barbara discovers the affair, she works a confession out of Sheba and vows to stay quiet.     Her belief is that her relationship with Sheba will grow closer and more intimate because they are now bonded by this secret.      This delusion is shattered when Sheba is unable to comfort her after her cat dies due to family commitments.     What happens next is a mixture of revenge, spite, and jealousy on Barbara's part, which I will not reveal.  

Notes on a Scandal is thankfully not the type of film where Barbara comes after Sheba or her family with a knife and all of the issues are sidestepped in favor of a slasher ending.      There are complications in all of the relationships involved and the movie deals with them in brutally honest fashion.    It does not pretend that either Barbara or Sheba are sympathetic people, although we shake our head as Sheba travels down a road that could only lead to catastrophe.     How does she justify her behavior?   How does Barbara feel she is behaving as a loving, caring friend when her plan to win Sheba involves tacit emotional blackmail?     Does she even acknowledge her homosexuality?  

Notes on a Scandal takes very tricky subject matter and makes it fascinating.    Dench and Blanchett both play amoral characters we can't stop watching even though they're rather despicable people.     That's a credit to both actress' considerable skills.     There's no one we can really sympathize with.    Even the boy comes off as a bit of a manipulator himself.      The person who attracts the most sympathy is Richard, but his relationship with Sheba began when he was a college professor and she was his student.    Perhaps Sheba thinks this gives her some justification for her actions.     In recent years, Bill Nighy has come on the scene as among the most dependable of British character actors and his work here is no exception.   

The movie is like a train wreck that we know is going to happen and can't stop, but yet we can't look away from it either.     The damage these people cause each other is substantial.    Each is a victim in his/her own way.   Except for Barbara, who walks between raindrops and manages somehow to leave the wreckage behind to continue to look for someone to spend her empty days with.     The next woman is in for some trouble.  

Prisoners (2013) * *

Directed by:  Denis Villenueve

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrance Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano, Maria Bello

Prisoners is a gloomy film about the disappearance of two young girls in a rural Pennsylvania town.   When I say gloomy, I'm not just talking about the tone.  There is not one day of sunshine.    Its characters are made to walk around in drenching rainstorms and snow. I hope there was plenty of coffee, blankets, and hot chocolate on set. 

It's also a film in which the parents of the disappeared act as maniacal and unsympathetic as the alleged kidnappers.  There isn't one scene in which the adults discuss the issue or express their emotions in healthy ways.    Prisoners would be a wet dream for all of those macho people who claim something to the effect of, "If anyone touched my kid, I would beat him to within an inch of his life," or something equally disturbing.  Guys like Keller Dover (Jackman) would be their patron saint. 

Prisoners doesn't wait long to go the glum route.   The very opening shot is a voiceover of a man saying an Our Father followed by a fatal shooting of a deer.   The voice is Keller's, the shooter is his son, and as they ride along the highway with the deer carcass in the truck bed, Keller expresses how proud he is of his son.    This Keller is a piece of work.    He is an independent contractor and gun lover, which fits into his future schedule perfectly, and he fills his basement with stockpiles of supplies in case the apocalypse comes or something.   He either scowls or growls when he isn't screaming.   I sense if his daughter wasn't kidnapped, he would've found some other dangerous way to release his hostility.

It's Thanksgiving Day.   Keller's family visits with his friend Franklin's (Howard) family.  Keller's daughter and Franklin's daughter are kidnapped seemingly from an upstairs bedroom.   A suspicious old RV that was seen in their neighborhood is soon tracked down by the cop assigned to the case, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal), who spends his Thanksgiving alone in a Chinese restaurant.    The driver, Alex Jones (Dano), is arrested and despite no physical evidence, Keller is convinced he is the kidnapper.    Jones wears glasses, can barely comprehend questions, speaks in a high-pitched squeal, and appears to be guilty, which of course means that he may not be.     Because there is no evidence, Alex is not charged in the girls' disappearance and is set free.     An outraged Keller follows him home and then kidnaps him as he's walking his dog.

What happens next to Alex is ugly and gruesome.  Keller, with rather reluctant help from Franklin, takes Alex to an abandoned apartment complex left to him by his late father and beats the holy hell out of him.   For days, he brutalizes Alex until his face resembles the meat Rocky Balboa pounded on.   He then conducts further elaborate means of torturing Alex.   Keller says he is trying to extract information, but to me he is simply behaving like the violent sadist that he is.   At this point, Prisoners takes a wrong turn.

Because Keller is so brutal, it becomes difficult to root for him.   It is difficult to root for any of the adults here.  Franklin expresses his reluctance through weak pronouncements like, "This is just wrong," but he decides to help Keller anyway.   Keller's wife spends her days heavily medicated lying in bed.     The issue here is that Keller and company have now committed the same crimes they accuse Alex of.    Many viewers will probably agree with Keller and even cheer him on.   Others may look on dismay.     We can understand Keller's desperation even if we don't agree with his tactics.   The fact that Keller prays before he beats on Alex some more means that he's an OK guy underneath it all, right?     Not so much.   

The pity is that I found myself disliking Prisoners but I wasn't disinterested.  Loki's investigation takes several twists and turns, but the underlying desire to find the girls keeps him going.  There is inherent suspense in such a story and Prisoners is no different.  Considering how overwritten Loki's character is, it's to Gyllenhaal's credit that he is able to keep up with all of his issues.  He is lonely, has facial tics, and has been run ragged by the search.  Plus, he has to deal with Keller screaming at him whenever the two find themselves in the same room together.  At least Loki wasn't dealing with personal demons as well, which is standard in many police procedurals.  

Jackman tries hard to keep up with all of his character's issues also and his character has plenty of them, including a sudden recurrence of alcoholism.  It isn't fair to weigh a character down with that much baggage, but Jackman still maintains his considerable screen presence and does what he can with such an unsympathetic character.   Aside from one scene in which she tries to coax information out of Alex through calm means, Viola Davis' Nancy has little to do except watch from the sidelines.   The same could be said for Grace (Bello).     It's a shame more wasn't done with Franklin, who hints at being a voice of reason, but he goes disappointingly goes along with the crowd.     It would've been interesting to see an internal conflict grow between the two sets of parents because of their disagreement over Alex's treatment, but it is sidestepped.  

Ultimately, Prisoners is weighed down under its own gloom.   It lays it on so thick that the movie never recovers. There have been plenty of strong movies made about parents dealing with kidnapped children, especially 1983's Without A Trace, which gave us a mother who tries to hold her life together as the prospect of finding her missing child grows dimmer.   The people in Prisoners don't seem capable of that.