The Prisoners ending adds to the highly complex and dark nature of the detective-thriller from Denis Villeneuve. The film tells the gut-wrenching story of a family Thanksgiving dinner that ends with two young girls disappearing. The central two characters, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), are then taken on a complex ride as both try to figure out the mystery through their own means, leading to the film’s unforgettable climax.
Distraught father Keller goes to a dark place in Prisoners, even kidnapping and torturing suspected kidnapper Alex Jones (Paul Dano) in his search for answers about his missing daughter, making it a gripping movie about moral dilemmas. Eventually, Dover finds out that Alex is Barry Milland and was kidnapped by his “mother” Holly Jones (Melissa Leo), who has taken Keller’s daughter and her friend Joy. Prisoners’ ending sees Keller left in a pit beneath Holly’s house after Loki exposes Holly and saves Anna. Prisoners reaches this endpoint through a series of twists and turns and leaves its ending purposely ambiguous.
Why Holly Jones Was Kidnapping Children
She Took Kids As A War On God For Her Own Son Dying Of Cancer
One of the biggest questions the Prisoners ending leaves is why Holly Jones and her husband, prior to his disappearance, were kidnapping children in the first place. While Prisoners does answer this, the film’s complex emotional story can allow certain aspects to become lost beneath the hard-hitting way the movie is presented. Also, as Holly is introduced early in the film, things that are revealed about her when she is “innocent” in the eyes of the audience can be forgotten once the reveal of her true nature comes to light.
Throughout the film, it is revealed that Holly and her husband adopted Alex Jones after the death of their own son to cancer. Throughout the film, Alex is shown to be intellectually disabled, having the IQ of a 10-year-old. It comes out that this disability comes from the trauma of his own kidnapping by Holly, with her reasoning revealed to Keller later after he figures out Holly’s crimes.
Holly reveals to Keller that, in revenge against God for allowing their son to die of cancer, she and her husband began kidnapping children of Christian families so that these families would feel a similar crisis of faith that they felt. This war on God was carried out over decades with Alex Jones being one victim. Another victim is also revealed throughout the film, a man named Bob Taylor, played by superhero movie regular David Dastmalchian.
Anna and Joy are just two of Holly’s latest victims, as the Dovers and Birchs are two Christian families. Despite her husband’s disappearance, Holly continued their “war” by kidnapping the two children and sending Keller and his family, alongside the Birchs, down their own crisis of faith.
How Alex Jones Was Involved
He Innocently Took Anna & Joy For A Drive, Inadvertently Leading Them Back To Holly
Leading to the Prisoners ending, Alex Jones is one of the central characters in some harrowing ways. Firstly, his intellectual disability puts him as one of the film’s red herrings, with Alex often making comments that seemingly implicate him in Anna and Joy’s kidnapping such as telling Keller: “They didn’t cry until I left them.” This causes Keller to torture Alex throughout the movie. However, the film reveals that Alex was not involved in the actual kidnapping of the girls; he was only present due to living in the same house as Holly.
Alex was also a victim and his trauma and mental disabilities put him on the wrong side of a grieving father.
As Alex, often considered one of Paul Dano’s best roles, is a kidnapping victim of Holly himself and purportedly her adoptive son, he was present in the house when Anna and Joy were taken. Before this, Alex took the girls for a joyride in his RV through seemingly innocent means due to his 10-year-old mental state, and the girls were only taken by Holly after returning to Alex’s house.
This is why Alex says the line to Keller, which the latter wrongly believes proves his guilt. In reality, Alex was also a victim and his trauma and mental disabilities put him on the wrong side of a grieving father.
Why Bob Taylor Implicated Himself
Trauma From Being A Kidnapping Victim Led Bob Taylor Down A Dark Path
Another of Holly’s kidnapping victims is Bob Taylor. In the film, Taylor is used as another red herring who breaks into the Dovers’ house, is found with Anna and Joy’s clothes covered in blood, and confesses to the kidnappings before ending his own life. In the scene in which Prisoners reveals that Holly was responsible for the kidnapping, it is also revealed that Taylor was a former victim of the Joneses who actually escaped, and Holly forgot he existed until he appeared in the news.
Taylor, suffering from similar trauma from his experiences as Alex, began emulating his memories of his own kidnapping by Holly and her husband. As Mr. Jones was obsessed with mazes, Taylor’s traumatic childhood caused his own mind to break, and became obsessed with them himself, explaining the writing on the walls of his home.
Because of Taylor’s mental state, it can be argued that he was fantasizing about kidnapping children to emulate Mr. Jones. This explains the seeming plot hole of why he would implicate himself, despite not participating in the kidnapping of Anna and Joy himself.
How The Priest’s Murder Is Significant
He Killed Holly Jones’ Husband
One other plot point is the investigation of Father Dunn by Loki, similarly ranked amongst Jake Gyllenhaal’s best performances. In the film, Loki visits a local priest and finds a decomposed body in his basement. The priest reveals that the man confessed to killing 16 children in a war against God, resulting in the priest killing the man in retaliation.
The man whom the priest killed is later revealed to be Mr. Jones with Holly under the impression that her husband disappeared. However, the maze necklace on the dead body is the same as the one worn by Mr. Jones in an image in Holly’s house, with her motivations for kidnapping revealing the connection between the Father and the Joneses.
Does Loki Save Dover?
Dover’s Fate Is Ambiguous
With the majority of the movie’s mysteries being answered, the Prisoners ending of the film is left ambiguous. The main way this is done is through Keller Dover’s fate, which continues the film’s depiction of real-life horror scenarios. In the end,, Keller is left in the pit beneath the Jones’ pick-up truck for days after Loki saves Anna from Holly.
The very last scene in the film sees Loki standing defeated in front of Holly’s house, hearing a faint whistle that is being blown by Keller in the pit. Loki shrugs the sound off, before hearing it again and seemingly going to investigate before the film cuts to black.
Such an ending with a big unanswered question can frustrate audiences, but Prisoners is a dark and gritty movie that would have felt odd with a definitive happy ending.
Whether Loki saves Dover is left to the audience’s interpretation which will no doubt sit differently with some fans. Such an ending with a big unanswered question can frustrate audiences, but Prisoners is a dark and gritty movie that would have felt odd with a definitive happy ending. The Prisoners ending as it stands carries the grim feel of the movie but gives a faint glimmer of hope in the end as well.
What Could Dover’s Fate Have Been?
He Either Would Have Died Or Gone To Jail
One of the lingering questions of Prisoners is what Dover’s fate could have been whether Loki did or did not save him. If Loki does not save him, the likelihood is that Dover will die in the pit. Dover was shot by Holly in the leg, and broke that same leg upon falling into the pit. These injuries would be difficult to survive, especially in the cold, unsanitary conditions of the pit.
Dover blowing the whistle is likely his last attempt at being saved. Similarly, if Loki does save Keller, it is likely he is arrested for his kidnapping and torture of Alex earlier in the film.
What Prisoners Ending Really Means
Unraveling Themes of Imprisonment and Redemption
The ending of Prisoners, in terms of the final scene and its overall reveals tie together the themes of the movie that director Denis Villeneuve intended. One of these themes is the film’s title, which has often been subject to debate. The ending of the film sees Loki and Keller, the two protagonists, facing the consequences of becoming prisoners themselves. Dover becomes a prisoner of his own grief by sacrificing his humanity to find his daughter, which leads him to the pit at the end of the film. Loki also becomes a prisoner to the case due to his obsession with finding the girls, and manages to escape the prison by saving Anna.
Another of the film’s themes is also faith and religion. The families whose daughters go missing are Christian families, which links to Holly, her husband, Patrick Dunn, and God himself. Holly and Mr. Jones can be seen as the film’s “devil,” waging their war against God. Loki, whose character has many religious tattoos, can be seen as God’s “angel” who defeats the devil.
Dover also fits these religious themes as God’s follower who loses his faith and sacrifices his humanity through his kidnap and torture of Alex. The end of the film can be seen as Dover asking God for help, with Loki as the angel potentially saving him, freeing both of the prisons that Prisoners lends its title to.
Why The Prisoners Ending Worked — According To The Screenwriter
Aaron Guzikowski Believes in the Ambiguous Ending
The Prisoners ending is a haunting and thrilling way to end this intense story, and screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski knew that was the right conclusion. In an interview (via Buzzfeed) Guzikowski spoke about how he enjoyed the ambiguity of the ending, even if he believes what follows is inevitable. Compared to the more explicit version that was shot, he says:
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I like it much better being ambiguous. Even though you assume that’s what’s probably going to happen, I like that there’s a small chance that he’s not going to get him out of there for whatever reason
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Interestingly, when it was pointed out that there was no way the determined Detective Loki would not investigate the noise further, Guzikowski suggested Loki might decide to leave Keller there rather than simply miss him. It is a disturbing thought that makes the ending all the more compelling and would certainly reframe Jake Gyllenhaal’s character as more villainous than the hero he is in the final version. Even without that ending, Prisoners is a dark movie with a fitting and Guzikowski is thankful it could remain that way:
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It’s definitely a testament to Alcon, the producers on the movie, sticking by the script and not wanting to make it into something it wasn’t
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The Prisoners Alternate Ending Explained
Analyzing The Endings And Their Impact
The Prisoners ending might have worked due to its ambiguity, but it almost had a much more definitive conclusion. The Prisoners alternate ending plays out very much the same way as the official ending up until the point that Loki hears the whistle again. This leads to him removing the car that is blocking Keller’s hole and Loki is able to find Keller still alive within it. The alternate ending was not planned by the filmmakers but rather an insistence from the studios in case audiences didn’t like the uncertainty of the planned ending.
The alternate ending proves that what the movie actually delivered works just fine. Though the extended final scene gives closure; it proves that the reveal that Loki saving Keller doesn’t actually add anything to the movie and the ending is more memorable if that question lingers. The alternate ending also further confirms the filmmakers’ intention with what the ending means. Even as it cuts to black before Loki actually finds Keller, the look on his face is enough to let the audience know Loki is determined now and will find out what is going on.
How The Prisoners Ending Was Received
The Movie Kept The Audience Riveted Right To The End
Ambiguous endings are often tricky for movies to pull off as the audience generally likes to be given concrete answers. When a movie ends with a big mystery left hanging in the air, it runs the risk of leaving the audience feeling unfulfilled and frustrated. However, Prisoners‘ ending succeeds with its ambiguous ending by leaving the audience with a thrilling feeling and also giving them enough of a hint that they can still decide on what happens after the screen goes black.
Viewers of
Prisoners
are almost screaming at the screen to get Loki to hear the whistle, creating an exhilarating experience in those final moments.
As Guzikowski points out, the ambiguity works much better than if the movie had actually ended with Loki finding Keller. Prisoners has a dark and grim tone from the beginning and there was always a sense that there would not be a happy ending to this story. To have everything suddenly get wrapped up nicely would have been a jarring shift in tone and thus the lingering question of Keller’s fate allows for some of that darkness to remain. It also works because Prisoners had already established itself as a movie that might leave Keller undiscovered.
However, a big part of the reason the reaction to the ending has been so enthusiastic is because of how much the audience becomes invested in the final scene. While the story has settled into its conclusion, this one detail grabs the audience’s attention in the final moment, similar to the ending of Inception. Just as viewers of that movie are willing the top to stop spinning, viewers of Prisoners are almost screaming at the screen to get Loki to hear the whistle, creating an exhilarating experience in those final moments.
