<\/p>\n
Prisoners<\/strong><\/em> is the type of movie that digs its way into your psyche and festers \u2014 in the best way possible. Ranked the second-best psychological thriller<\/a> of the last 15 years by Collider<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, the dark, unsettling, and emotionally intense crime drama is peak viewing. If you haven\u2019t seen it yet, what are you doing right now?<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n Set over Thanksgiving<\/a><\/strong>, the plot follows the kidnapping of two little girls, plucked from their quiet street in their seemingly safe suburban town, and the investigation launched to bring them home. The film stars Hugh Jackman<\/a><\/strong>and Jake Gyllenhaal<\/a><\/strong>, with the latter playing Detective Loki<\/a><\/strong>, the lead investigator on the case, and the former playing Keller Dover<\/strong>, a grieving<\/a> father who will do whatever it takes to find the girls.<\/p>\n \u201cPrisoners<\/em> is a masterclass of tension and emotionally gripping storytelling that exemplifies everything that makes psychological thrillers<\/a> such an enthralling and exceptional experience,\u201d Collider<\/em> writes. \u201cThe mystery at the center is only a portion of the film’s brilliance, as the paralleling desperation and pain of its characters amidst the confusion and anger is what transforms it into a work of art.\u201d<\/p>\n Directed by French-Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve<\/strong>, the Oscar-nominated<\/strong> film is the filmmaker\u2019s first English-language film, to be followed by Sicario<\/em><\/strong>, Arrival<\/em><\/strong>, and the Dune<\/em><\/strong> franchise. The script comes from the relative newcomer Aaron Guzikowski<\/strong>, who was inspired<\/a> by Edgar Allan Poe<\/strong>\u2019s The Tell-Tale Heart<\/em> for his story about grief<\/a>, obsession, and moral collapse.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, production<\/a> took as many twists and turns as the film\u2019s own thrilling narrative. Jackman initially signed on, dropped out, then later returned to the project. Early casting talks also included Christian Bale<\/a><\/strong> and Mark Wahlberg<\/a><\/strong>, who ultimately left to star in The Fighter<\/em><\/strong>. Ryan Gosling<\/a><\/strong>, who stars in Villeneuve\u2019s Blade Runner 2049<\/em><\/strong>, even auditioned for Loki.<\/p>\n In the end, Gyllenhaal won the role and made it his own, adding the tattoos, facial tics, and Freemason ring that define Detective Loki as the obsessive cop who refuses to let a case go cold. Under the precision of Villeneuve, the film has become a celebrated modern psychological marvel that still haunts us to this day. Just wait for that final scene. Good lawd if ever a sequel were warranted.<\/p>\n Prisoners<\/strong> is available to rent or buy on Prime Video<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Related: 1973 Nostalgic Hit Saved by \u2018The Godfather\u2019 Ranked Among the Best Rock Movies of All Time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on May 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prisoners is the type of movie that digs its way into your psyche and festers \u2014 in the best way possible. Ranked the second-best psychological thriller of the last 15 years by Collider, the dark, unsettling, and emotionally intense crime drama is peak viewing. If you haven\u2019t seen it yet, what are you doing right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2400736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[344976,324308,304969,468749,35108,345863,468748,330682],"class_list":["post-2400735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-celebrity-interviews","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-denis-villeneuve","tag-detective-loki","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-jake-gyllenhaal","tag-prisoners","tag-psychological-thriller"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Why-Prisoners-is-Ranked-the-Second-Best-Psychological-Thriller-of-the.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400737,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400735\/revisions\/2400737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}