Hugh Jackman’s ‘Prisoners’ Stuns During Screening At Telluride Film Festival

Hugh Jackman stars in Prisoners which held its world screening at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday leaving the audience stunned.

From director Denis Villeneuve, the film has been described as a dark character thriller-drama about the repercussion of violence on human beings.

Villeneuve spoke to those present at the screening,

“This movie was finished last Friday, and it means you are the first audience ever to see this movie. For political reasons I don’t understand, this is a sneak preview, but deep in my heart this is the premiere tonight.”

The thriller grabbed the audience attention, even if they didn’t particularly like the explicit violence depicted in the film and the reactions were unexpected. Many had downplayed Prisoners as a commercial film not worth its place at the festival.

Well, those critics were soundly crushed after the public broke into applause after the screening. “Shocking”, “stunning”, and “overpowering” are some of the adjectives used for the new Hugh Jackman film Prisoners.

Pete Hammond ofDeadline is calling it, “a first class motion picture experience unlike any other that I, for one, have experienced in a long time. But it’s not an easy sell.”

Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables, The Wolverine) plays a father, who’s daughter has been kidnapped. He suspects a psycho, played by Paul Dano as the culprit and turns into a vigilante, while Jake Gyllenhaal is the cop who is desperately trying to catch the criminal before Jackman takes the law into his own hands.

Some, like Deadline, are saying Prisoners will be a strong Oscar contender and it’s somewhat redeeming for Villeneuve who returns after two previous visits to Telluride.

Hammond said the emotionally draining film had him on the edge of his seat for the entire two and a half hours the film lasts.

Hugh Jackman’s Prisoners opens in theaters on September 20.