Prisoners’: Six things to know about the Jake Gyllenhaal thriller

This weekend sees the unofficial start of the quality-driven fall movie season. (Yeah, technically it began a few weeks ago, but would you want "Riddick" to kick off anything with the word quality in it?) The smart pop entertainment Formula One movie "Rush" hits theaters in limited release, and the elevated genre pic "Prisoners" opens on several thousand screens around the country.

Denis Villeneuve�s film is a twisty tale of narrative surprise. The basics: When Hugh Jackman’s daughter is kidnapped on Thanksgiving Day, he takes hostage the man he thinks did it when a hot shot cop (Jake Gyllenhaal) can’t seem to solve the case. It’s also a meditation on the necessity and limits of violence.

No fun to give away key plot points, so we won’t, but the movie deals with weighty issues and has a fascinating back story. Here are a half-dozen things worth knowing on your way in or on your way out.