10 Smart Movies Which Are Secretly Dumb

Prisoners is proof perfect of what fresh nonsense extremely talented filmmakers and actors can get away with.

Denis Villeneuve's tightly wound thriller was marketed and presented as an upmarket entry into the genre gunning for Oscars - a prestige take on a typical genre film, basically.

And while there's no arguing with the impeccable above-the-line craft or stellar performances, those elements do a ton of heavy lifting in trying to blind audiences to the fact that the script and narrative feel borrowed wholesale from a dog-eared airport novel.

This tale of missing children and vigilantism run amok would've felt demonstrably more generic and silly in the hands of lesser artists, given how fundamentally convoluted the twist-heavy story is.

Overflowing with red herrings and just plain over-plotted, Prisoners tries to dissuade you it's anything but a typical, eventually quite outrageous kidnap movie by drowning you in Things Happening, which are lucky enough to be shot and performed by some of the best in the business.

Forbes perhaps put it best when they called it a "dumb thriller disguised as a prestige drama." Spot on.