This 2013 Nicolas Cage movie featuring Cage as soon-to-retire Alaska State Police detective Jack Holcombe. Jack and several other state police officials (including Sgt. Lyle Haugsven, played by Dean Norris and Ed Stauber, played by Matt Gerald) are investigating several dead and missing women, possibly the work of a serial killer. Jack gets a lead on teenaged prostitute Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens) who reported being kidnapped, raped and threatened with death by a man named Robert Hansen (John Cusack). The charges were unable to stick, but now the police have their eye on Hansen, as more crimes mount up. Jack soon finds his retirement delayed while becoming more distant from his wife Allie (Radha Mitchell) and kids. In the meantime (as a central subplot of the movie) Cindy is falling into drugs and prostitution, under the dangerous eye of pimp Clate Johnson (50 Cent) as Jack struggles to get her to both testify, and help her get back to her feet.
Tropes:
- The '80s: When the movie is set.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Jack and Allie. In the end, she tells him that the change she wants can be achieved under different terms than him quitting and urges him to finish this case.
- Ax-Crazy: Hansen, a rapist and serial murderer who kidnaps women and hunts them for sport in the Alaskan wilderness.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: It is implied that Hansen hunts animals for the same reason he hunts women: bloodlust and a need to feel powerful.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Hansen and (by the end of the movie) Clate. The former drives the plot and investigation but the later is also a major threat in Cindy’s life.
- Bluffing the Murderer: After Hansen disposes of his souvenirs from the murders, Jack gets a replacement bracelet identical to one he probably took off a body and takes it into the interrogation room, talking as if they found it.
- Composite Character: Jack is based on multiple cops involved in the case.
- Creepy Uncle: Cindy implies she was abused by her great-uncle.
- Da Chief: Lieutenant Bob Jent, who is initially cautious about saying there's a murderer and quick to point out potential weaknesses in the case they have, but in the end does want to see Hansen brought to justice.Jent: Look, you’re smarter than he is, alright. Now remember, when you get a guy like this drowning. You pour on more water.
- The Dead Have Names: The film is dedicated to Hansen’s real-life victims and there’s a photo montage of them at the end.
- Deuteragonist: Cindy.
- Disposable Sex Worker: As in Real Life, most (but not all) of Robert Hansen's victims were prostitutes or strippers.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Cindy tells Jack that her mother was fifteen and she was raised as her sister.
- Finally Found the Body: The film opens with a body being discovered. Another one was found the previous year and nine more are discovered once Hansen cracks at the end.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Hansen is frequently seen cleaning his glasses with an agitated look on his face when talking about women.
- He-Man Woman Hater: For Hansen, there is no difference between women and the game animals he likes to hunt.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Hansen kidnaps women, then releases them into the Alaskan forest to stalk and hunt them like animals.
- Longer-Than-Life Sentence: Hansen is sentenced to 421 years in prison.
- Ms. Fanservice: Cindy has a pole-dancing scene or two.
- Old-Fashioned Copper: Jack meets one (Vice Detective Gentile, played by Michael McGrady) while looking for Cindy, with the guy bluntly talking about the red light district in somewhat disturbing terms. He says that his department doesn't like Jack’s presence and if they find whoever called him in, it will cost the guy a promotion.
- Parental Substitute: Jack and his wife become this for Cindy.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The officer who first arrested Hanson for kidnapping Cindy, upon being unable to get his superiors interested, mails his information to the state troopers.
- Serial Killer: Hansen confesses to 17 murders at the end (although he can't recall all of the body locations), and there might very well have been more.
- Taxidermy Terror: Hansen is first shown in his home, adorned with various pelts and mounts, which you can see in nearly every shot. Later in the movie, it is revealed that there are so many mounts because he has an addiction to hunting, and human beings are a harder and more interesting kill to him.
- They Look Just Like Everybody Else: Hansen is well-liked and respected by his neighbors.
- Trauma Button: Cindy has a full-blown Panic Attack when she sees Hansen for the first time since he tried to kill her.
- That One Case: The Hansen murders becomes this for Jack, although it's resolved far shorter than the average example.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hansen has one when Cindy confronts him, screaming that he should have killed her when he had the chance. He fully confesses soon afterward.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Hansen appears quiet and mild-mannered in his everyday life.