Movie review score
5
Prisoners ( 2013 ) - Demystified
I guess this is one silent movie , might give a very normal feel but really this is one best mind bending movie by itself. So many theories , so many assumptions , so many guesses and so many reasoning to make sure we understand exactly what we see....Easily viewers would get diverted to alternate conclusions if they miss to understand any single part of the movie. So i felt instead of writing a review..for first time rather i would just talk directly some important breakup points which might bug our mind from a normal layman's understanding...!! Some might know these already but this is purely for those who want to understand more what this movie actually is or to make sure what they understood is right . So lets get into it.....
Before we get into the most confusing and interesting part , lets see first who is who....
Keller Dover ( Hugh Jackman )
Detective Loki ( Jake Gyllenhaal )
Holly Jones - Aunt of Alex
Alex Jones - The guy with less IQ
Bob Taylor - Mentally Ill guy who draws maze everywhere in his house and one who shoots himself
Anna Dover - Daughter of Dover couple
Joy Birch - Daughter of Birch Couple
Father Patrick Dunn - Who gets arrested for having a corpse in basement
Captain Richard O'Malley - Head of Police Dept Loki reports too..
So now lets get into the actual game......
1) Both Holly and her husband's minds took a twisted turn when their son died of cancer. Blaming God for not saving him, they sought to make others feel their pain. The pair began kidnapping children to turn the parents into 'demons' as they called it, forcing them to lose their mind and faith on god like they did.
" After our son died of cancer , we started to see things differently " - exact quote
2) Before the recent abduction , there were only two known survivors, Bob Taylor and Barry. Both suffered greatly to the point where they could no longer speak properly and they became mentally ill. Bob some how escaped from their clutches, but the memories kept him from telling the police and haunted him for ever. Barry was kept by Holly and he was unlucky as days passed he became more retarded and at one stage he lost all his senses , Holly Jones renamed him Alex and told him she was his aunt.
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| Holly Jones with Alex Jones |
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| Bob Taylor |
3) Taylor Was a Victim of Child Abuse and Mentally ill could be because he was also drugged too much when he was abducted. Taylor was one who escaped from hands of Jones couples. When Gyllenhal forced him with questions the memory of his Abuse are playing in his mind. Also Taylor believed he to be the invisible man , wanted to create his own maze but when he got caught, Taylor saw a way to end his life to his secret himself , So He Grabbed the Cop Pistol and Shot Himself.
4) Holly Jones husband was one who abducted Taylor and he was the Maze Guy, The Memory of the Maze Dollar which the maze guy was wearing Stayed with Taylor for ever . So, He was Kinda Obsessed with Maze and wanted to imitate Jone couple and when he got escaped , he wanted to continue the abduction himself and continue Jones couples work himself. Thats why he drew mazes everywhere .
5) Below are the words spoken by Alex (a) Jimmy (a) Barry and with a person with Less IQ he hardly could Lie.
“I’m not alex” – TRUE. Alex was the name Holly and his husband give him but he is actually Barry.
“They only cried when I left them” – TRUE. The girls were just playing with him until Holly abducted those kids
“I just wanted to play” – TRUE. He had the IQ of a 10 , all he wanted is to just with the play with the girls
“They’re in the maze” – As per alex the abduction is Maze , he feels the girls are in Maze .
6) Loki finds a dead corpse on Father Patrick Dunn house basement. That corpse is none other then Holly Jones husband and that can be proved by the Maze dollar pendent that dead rotten corpse was wearing . Later father explains to Loki that this man had confessed to kidnapping 16 children in broad daylight and then later killing them, saying he was waging a war against God, so Dunn killed the man to stop this man from hurting anymore children.
7) Barry Milland who went missing 26 years earlier. When Loki visits Barry's mother, who says the boy disappeared while playing in the front yard as she took a nap. This gets evident at last scene @2:19:53 min when on News headlines its written Barry aka Alex reunites with his family after 26 years.
8) Also at @2:19:57 there is another Article about Local Man Keller Dover missing , so he was not yet found till that time but at last scene when Loki visits Jones house , he does listen to a mild Whistle blow which gives viewers to assume ourself that Keller would get saved out of that Huge hole he was dumped with a wound in his leg. At same time there is a twist , at last scene @2:24:09 min when Loki asks the detectives digging jones house for clues of dead bodies , they say " It gonna take weeks to excavate the entire property as ground was frozen solid". So its run against time , if Keller is not found on time , he might die due to bullet wound. So will that whistle really helped..thats a question left to our assumption.
9) What is the exact relation between Abduction and Maze. Jones couples are so sadistic that they used to Drug the kids they abduct which will not completely immobilize them but it would subject the kids under a kind of Semi-conscious state. Later those couples force those kids to play a Maze game and if they could solve the entire maze they are allowed to go home. Thats what the abducted kids are made to believe. No wonder why Taylor also so obsessed with Maze , because he was too obsessed with solving them and keeps creating his own tough mazes which could be solved. So the maze is just a illusion and completely fictional. Maze is nothing but the place where the children were taken captive , tortured and killed
10) When Alex takes his Dog for a walk @42:35 min, he hurts the Dog which could make us think if he was the killer. But its a purposeful diversion maker wants viewers to think. Alex has hatred over his aunt because of her continuous abuse but he is afraid. So he just shows that anger on that innocent Aunts Dog but nothing more then that.
11) Many might get confused why Dover prepares himself for Doomsday or why does he believe End of days Prophecy but that scenes were very intentional to show how much he has faith on Beliefs and how far he takes bible words into consideration. This is very important to this film because his beliefs which later be completely shaken when he has to go through unimaginable circumstances.
12) Keller Dover repents for his sins for what he has changed now and how his life turned upside down..This is seen especially when he recites these words suddenly he stops "as we forgive those who trespass against us " because he couldn't forgive.. refer @1:45:44. This proves how Jones actually bring the devil within but abducting their kids.
13) What is with Taylor ? Why is he stealing Cloths and what with those Boxes with snakes ? Well , Taylor wants to prove he is the invisible man in that Maze . As per the Book Jones couples used to use , its the invisible man who sets up the maze. Since Taylor is mentally ill , he couldn't abduct the actual children but he does monitor Jones couples activity. He carefully watches which kids Jones abduct , later Taylor breaks in to those house where those kids lived and he steals those Kids dresses ,socks etc..!! and by placing them on each boxes , he feels as if those kids are kept there alive .
14) Also as a ritual for Satan , he places those snakes on each Box and he puts Pigs blood over those kids dress in-order to make himself feel those boxes have like kids. As per Book of Revelation, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a serpent rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Thus foreshadowing his greater plan: the End of Days " . So snake plays a important role in rituals. There is also another reason that Jones husband did like snakes.
15) At last scene @2:24:15 those guys digging at Jones house say they found so many dead snakes and shit. Means even Jones used to bury those children along with snakes and they are yet to find the children body but they did found snakes.
16) When Detectives inspect Bob Taylor House , they find lot of mazes and a Book which Taylor was using to imitate and create mazes. Though he doesnt abduct children to play the maze but instead he himself played those mazes on every abduction along with he creating his own Mazes. So why they say he was almost at the last Maze and it was matching the pendent Holly Jones husband was wearing but he is long dead even before he could complete. But this is that he is just psychopathic so these mazes are all his own creation for imitating Jones couples. He thought that he had been abducted by "The Invisible Man". Taylor then became a PRISONER in his mind and went on through life believing that if he could just solve the last maze he would be free again. Even though he was physically free, he was forever tormented by not being able to solve the maze and go home.Taylor was just creating his own Maze book as well.
17) Jones don't keep people alive..they bury them.... !!! i guess they do.... ( as per this pic ) . Though no bodies of dead children were found so far but its high possibility that this is what they did with those bodies. Also @1:53:59 there is one more reason to believe when police find Mannequins dolls buried in-front of Taylor's house. As we all know he was imitating Jones couples , so this means he was burying these dolls for the same reason.
18) Many might ask what does Loki exactly find in below artcile. Well Loki reads this artcile in internet.which talks about Keller Dovers dad William Dover Death by Sucide , this article also has details about the abandoned Apartment details at 234 Campello Street where his father lived once. Jake spots Dover near a garden and suddenly steps into a wine shop to distract jake a day back. So Jake gets suspicious that Dover has something hiding in that place. So he goes there to check in the next day @1:29:33....!!! even we get a hint about his dad @35:15 when captain Captain Richard O'Malley talks to Keller Dover
19) Loki had tattoo's at his finger @12:40 and Detective Loki has tattoos- one on his neck and several on his fingers -- a facial tic, and a Freemason ring, all of which tell a story about his past. Illuminati symbolism in ‘Prisoners’ film. His is tatted up with symbols found in Freemasonry and the Zodiac (Gyllenhall was in the film Zodiac as well; not sure how that plays in there). Loki/Gyllenhall wears a ring with a Masonic symbol, and has hand tattoos that include a cross, neck tattoo of a star, and zodiac signs.for more reference : http://illuminatiwatcher.com/illuminati-symbolism-in-prisoners-film/ . But why this tattoo's used is still a open question. Does it explain something or does it has to do anything with his success over any cases he takes up.Also Detective Loki is clearly visible in many scenes wearing a Freemasons ring on his left hand
20) When one of girl Joy escapes from hands of holly jones and admitted in hospital , That girl says that dover was in jones house when she put a tape to her mouth. So Dover runs in anger immediatly to Jones house to check for her Girl. Seeing him gushing in like that , police try to stop him when he was running from hospital .
21) How come Joy only escapes from Jones and what happened to Anna. How did Joy really escape ? This question can arise in few viewers if they miss few clips post Joy's hospital admittance. A quick few second scene where one girl runs away and other girl gets caught
22) At the beginning did Alex kidnap the girls using RV and if so how come Detectives and Forensic team haven't found anything in the RV ? This is not the first time children were abducted.. Jones couples already killed 16 children's , so alex came only later part with obsession to RV and he holds a license too. Its just a deviation from maker to make us think alex kidnapped but its not..!! Alex is grown man with less IQ of a child , kind-of retarded. He doesn't have it in him to kidnap. Thats clear when he says he played with them before they taken and she smiled. Do u remember that dialogues. Alex is innocent. He just wants to play with them. With an IQ of 10 You don't know how to kidnap. They didnt cry until jones took them from him. He drove that rv making a accident where police arrested alex but the kids were kidnapped by jones may be in car. Thats the reason why forensic team couldnt find anything in rv.Again the RV was a distraction too for making viewers believe Alex was the culprit but we know he is not.
23) " The devil is within " - Dover was reciting Daily Prayer to deliver us from evil but he instead become a prisoner for his own deeds. He injured and harmed a innocent person because he was blinded. Thats the core to the movie. Everyone are Prisoners in this world someway or other....
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** THE END **
Nobody in this whole world would have thought the way you do except the Director ... you solved the AMAZE pictured by the Director
Very good observation BT... You are clever !!!! .... I watching the film again after reading your comments .... I can observe the tattoos in fingers of Loki...
I was curious about who grabbed Anna when the girls tried to escape. The body type was of a lanky person. Then i went through the movie and examined everyone's body type and jacket. I have cone to the conclusion that it was Bob Taylor that grabbed her.