You may be tempted to skip “Prisoners” if you’ve seen the similarly-themed mess “Law-Abiding Citizen.”

But don’t be deceived by this movie’s potentially cliché premise and definitely cliché title, because it will hold your attention against your will. You won’t even have to suspend reality to get your heart pounding.

The first 15 minutes set you on edge, and the scenes only consist of Hugh Jackman greeting his neighbors before Thanksgiving dinner. But this harmless gathering makes you cringe in apprehension as you brace yourself for the imminent horrors that everyone knows will storm in on the idyllic holiday of the families, both of which are eerily similar to your own.

The groups laugh, joke and poke fun at each other in natural ways that contemporary thrillers no longer linger on, and that’s what makes this one memorable: the film knows how to savor normality, even in the face of a nightmare.

This cinematic self-awareness continues as developments occur among haunting realism, which goes well with characters’ detail-oriented, muttered comments, appropriately paced realizations and plot-consistent emotional states.

The only flaw here is that the plot centers around a pretty implausible kidnapping conspiracy. With a brilliantly shot and acted script, however, you’re able to sink into the world of the Dovers, hypocritically reciting the Lord’s Pprayer with complex anti-hero Keller (Jackman) and frustratedly lashing out at the uncooperative suspects with Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal).

Soon enough, the abrupt yet subtle and satisfying ending will leave you marveling at how a movie that could have gone so wrong went so right.

_MOVE gives “Prisoners” 4.5 out of 5 stars._