Every Friday night, Movies.com sends cinephiles (and newlyweds) Sarah and Joe Piccirillo to see a film. Afterwards, they answer a few questions about it. Below is their discussion.
Synopsis: When two young girls are kidnapped, a local detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) must race against time to find their abductor and prevent an angry father (Hugh Jackman) from seeking revenge against a former suspect.
Was This a Good Date Movie?
Sarah: This didn’t have the sexiness or energy I usually associate with a date movie.
Joe: That’s an understatement.
Sarah: But there’s so much going on in terms of plot and performance that you can’t help but talk about it afterwards.
Joe: It’s such a dark movie with dark themes. It did inspire a lot of conversation but nothing that I would call sexy. It’s not a good movie for a date.
Sarah: I disagree. I think it’d be fun to have a drink and get into it over this movie.
What Drove You Nuts?
Sarah: Really, very little drove me nuts. And the only two things that did drive me nuts – two very big, seemingly ignored pieces of information that would have resolved things very differently – only did so because the rest of the movie set a high bar.
Joe: If you look at the origin of this terrible tragedy, it begins with the children’s need to avoid hearing Terrence Howard drunkenly play a trumpet. I was waiting for someone to bring it up.
Sarah: Even though this wasn’t a procedural crime story, I wanted more epilogue than we got. I felt like I was watching the season finale of a TV show I’d never seen before. I still have so many unanswered questions.
Joe: Now I disagree. The cinematography evoked a certain mood throughout the film. It kept me invested even when I shouldn’t have been. It was more Mystic River than CSI, which I liked, so I cared less about the answers.
What Did You Love?
Sarah: We’re both kind of those annoying people who usually see what’s coming a mile away, and we did guess at some of what was coming up but not how it would be used, and that was exciting.
Joe: At a certain point, I had no idea what was going to happen. Whenever you can’t see the plot machinations at play, it’s exhilarating to watch.
Sarah: I wanted to punch Jake Gyllenhaal in the face. So he did a good job of being annoying.
Joe: Nice. I love that, at almost every turn, I questioned the decisions all of the characters made. At no point were there easy, no-brainer choices, including the use of torture.
What Will You Be Thinking About Tomorrow?
Sarah: The movie made abstract concepts of forgiveness and righteousness feel very visceral. Violence that at first seems heroic becomes something else until you’re not really sure what you want to happen, let alone what will.
Joe: Right. I thought about gender roles. Even though most of the audience would react to the situation in much the same way as Terrence Howard’s character, I agreed with all of the Jackman character’s actions in the first half of the film. It was visceral. To your point, it’s a testament to the filmmaking that I could feel and understand the characters’ rage… So you still think this is a good date movie?
Sarah: Point taken. If this is the kind of conversation the movie inspires, I concede.
Verdict
Sarah: See it.
Joe: Definitely see it. But don’t bring a first date to it.
Sarah and Joe are writers/editors who live in Boston. They met in a bar and married within a year. They love to argue about early Woody Allen films and old romantic comedies. They both agree to hate musicals.
