User Reviews

The revenge plot has been done to death. Kidnapping the protagonist's daughter has been done to death. Everything about this movie has been done before, and done much, much better. This is just another extortion movie where the former friend of a former bank robber wants his share of the heist, and kidnaps the hero's (Nicolas Cage) daughter as ransom. The thing is, Cage burned the money. So how is he going to pay this lunatic? Well, he's gotta commit one more heist for it to be all over. Sound predictable? That's because it is.

Every beat of this movie is predictable. It wouldn't be so bad if they added some depth to the characters but everything is so one-dimensional. Will (Nicolas Cage) loves his daughter and used to rob banks - that's all we get as far as character development. Vincent (played by Josh Lucas) wants money. They both were involved with a robbery gone wrong at the start of the film and Will burned the money before being arrested and jailed for eight years, but Vincent still wants his share. He waited eight years to exact his revenge. Eight. And the diabolical plan he came up with during that time is to kidnap Will's daughter and threaten to kill her if he doesn't get paid. It's like the writers weren't even trying.

What the writers do is explain EVERYTHING that's happening to the audience. They spoon-feed everything with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and this constitutes about 90% of the dialogue: Explaining what you are seeing on screen. The other 10% is forced relationships and throwaway police banter. It's really stupid. Watching the movie on mute is probably much more entertaining.

Let's talk about the villain for a minute because he's really quite a character, or caricature rather. He has no personality whatsoever so they give him all of these weird traits to mask the fact that he's boring as all f*ck. A metal stick for a leg, long messy hair, a rugged shady look, a twisted sense of morals, and he's a cab driver. It's like baby's first psychopath. Now I don't blame Josh Lucas for this at all, in fact he makes the character watchable, but not even good acting can save the villain from being a walking, talking cliché.

The police are just stupid in this. Stupider than usual in fact. They're not even worth talking about. All you need to know is that you know what you're getting into with this movie before it even starts and it gives you absolutely no surprises or suspense. It's a by-the-numbers action thriller with Nicolas Cage. It has a few funny moments sure, most are unintentional, but if you're hoping that this would at least be a fun, over-the-top Nicolas Cage action movie, then I'm afraid you'll be sorely disappointed. Stolen is overwhelmingly and sometimes painfully average.

The plot is rather simple and not original, but chases during and within Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans are interesting to watch (here, adding the carnival does make sense, in most other movies it is just meant to confuse viewers and chasers). However, the "final end" could have been different, more sophisticated.

Nicholas Cage is good as usual, but the real star (and best villain) of the movie is John Lucas - vicious inside and outside. Female characters tend to be sketchy, although actresses do their best.

An OK movie for killing time, but it is neither Heat nor Snatch or similar. A typical Cage-related action.

Zero fanfare, barely-there 141 theaters count in the U.S. (a surprise, considering it's a movie starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Simon West of CON AIR and THE EXPENDABLES 2 fame), and scathing reviews -- everything about STOLEN spells rotten. Many have even lambasted this as among the worst Nicolas Cage movie he's ever acted. Personally, I don't blame them for being so harsh since Nicolas Cage's movies nowadays are mostly rubbish. But surprisingly, STOLEN isn't as bad as I thought. It isn't good either, but rather a fairly worthwhile action thriller.

The movie follows Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage), a master thief who has been sent to prison for 8 years after being double-crossed by one of his partners (M.C. Gainey) in a $10 million robbery gone awry. Upon his release, he plans to leave his criminal past behind and attempts to rekindle his shaky relationship with his estranged daughter, Alison (Sami Gayle). However, FBI agents Tim Harlend (Danny Huston) and Fletcher (Mark Valley) are both convinced that Montgomery must have stashed the $10 million somewhere before he was arrested. But Montgomery insists he's already burned all the money before he surrendered himself, so his prison sentence will be significantly reduced. Soon, it doesn't take long before Montgomery's past comes back to haunt him when his former partner, Vincent (Josh Lucas), who is long thought to be dead, works as a taxi driver and kidnaps Alison. Vincent has been waiting for 8 years to exact revenge against Montgomery, who shots his leg during that fateful robbery, and now he wants the missing $10 million as ransom. Montgomery is given 12 hours to retrieve the money at all cost, or Vincent will kill Alison. As time running out, Montgomery has no choice but to go back his old self again and re-teams with his another partner, the beautiful Riley Jeffers (Malin Akerman) to pull off a bank heist.

STOLEN plays strictly by-the-numbers, and it's terribly clichéd all over the place. David Guggenheim's screenplay is full of implausibilities, and the characters are all caricatures at best. But the movie's ludicrous tone has somehow plays out fairly good to its advantage. Thanks to Simon West's energetic direction, the movie zips along fast enough. Frankly, watching STOLEN is akin to watching a mindless '90s action movie -- enjoyable as long as you put your logic aside. The action are quite entertaining , especially given its $35 million low-budget cost (the opening heist scene and the car chase scene inside the parking lot comes to mind), even though they tend to get a bit distracted by its fast editing. Mark Isham's score is catchy and entertaining enough, but its snappy tone that favors over its caper genre does sounds awkward during its more dramatic moments.

Acting-wise, Nicolas Cage plays the same old character we have seen too many times before -- twitchy, that is. But at least, it's not as worst as critics might lead you to believe here. Josh Lucas certainly has a field day playing an over-the-top, crazy psychopath while both Danny Huston and Mark Valley make quite a worthwhile comic-relief pair as two buffoonery FBI agents. Malin Akerman puts up a thankless role here, which is nothing more than showcasing her beauty and little else.

While STOLEN won't top anyone's list as one of the must-see action movies of the year, at least it delivers adequate supply of guilty-pleasure entertainment.

If you are wondering, "Why is Nicolas Cage starring in a movie that only got a token theatrical release before being dumped on DVD?", well, from what I've heard, Cage's overspending combined with a massive tax debt has made him take less prestigious projects in order to raise money. Actually, I had high hopes for this movie, because it was a production from Millennium Films, a company that often makes high quality action movies. However, this movie is one of their rare misses. Technically, the movie is above average for a movie aimed primarily at the DVD market. However, the basic story has been told so many times before that there are few surprises this time around. Most likely you'll be impatient long before the end because at times the movie seems to be stretching things out. Also, Cage's character never really becomes sympathetic - you'll never get involved in his plight and be rooting for him. And this is yet another movie where filmmakers don't know how heavy gold bars are in real life! Let's hope Cage managed to pay off his debts with this movie so he can be free to pick more quality projects.

In New Orleans, the notorious bank thief and family man Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage) steals ten million-dollar with his partners Vincent (Josh Lucas), Riley Jeffers (Malin Akerman) and Hoyt (M.C. Gainey). However, he has an argument with Vincent in the runaway and Hoyt leaves Will behind. He tries to flee but the FBI agent Tim Harlend (Danny Huston) organizes a manhunt and Will is captured, but he burns the stolen money to get rid of the evidences against him.

Eight years later, Will leaves the prison and he goes to the house of his teenage daughter Alison Loeb (Sami Gayle), who has issues against him. Alison leaves Will alone in a coffee shop and takes a cab to go to a session with her shrink. However, a couple of minutes later, Will receives a phone call from Vincent, who is presumed dead, telling that he has abducted Alison and will kill her unless he receives the ten million-dollars of the last robbery. Now Will has twelve hours to find a way to rescue his daughter from the hands of the psychopath Vincent.

"Stolen" is a predictable, flawed, full of clichés but also entertaining action movie with Nicolas Cage in the lead role. This is the type of movie where the viewer can guess what is going to happen on the next scene but nevertheless is not as bad as I expected. I really did not understand how the cellular with GPS that was left in the train to Tallahassee was back again with Will Montgomery and how the handcuff on his left hand has vanished. Further, how many golden bars have been easily melted, hardened and carried in a bag? At least, seeing the gorgeous Swedish actress Malin Akerman makes this forgettable movie worth. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Resgate" ("The Ransom")

Y A N C M

Nicolas Cage made some good movies a while ago. Not this one.

End of story.

Long story: It's not all that interesting. The plot is like junk food -- dulls the mind, weakens the heart -- unsatisfying. The action is dreary and slow. Even the attempts at slowing down the pace are annoying. The absurd characterization of an Australian is ridiculous. The sound track is stolen from "The Saint" and Val Kilmer. The pretense of a hectic "Fat Tuesday" is idiotic. The visual effects stolen from "Heat" are disconnected from the action. Each character is a grotesque cliché. Each plot step is predictable.

Yet Another Nicolas Cage Movie.

Here's hoping he delivers a couple more good ones eventually.

Nicolas Cage is one of those A-list classified actors that somehow manage to churn movies out left and right no matter the quality or subject matter. His over the top persona is most likely the biggest reason delivering some memorable characters whether you like him or not. The trailer for his latest Stolen comes off more like a rehash of Taken, but with Cage's added unique character delivery and Expendables 2 director Simon West in the mix could it give something a bit more or will it be another in a long line of low end releases to Cage's career?

Stolen follows a former thief frantically searching for his missing daughter, who has been kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a taxi, while trying to avoid FBI agents convinced he is lying and looking to find the money he stole 8 years prior. While the story seems like Taken it really isn't. Yeah there are similarities, but really no more than there is in tons of other action thrillers in this genre. The story here is more straight-forward and on a smaller scale, but still works fairly well. Cage delivers a bit more of a relaxed performance, but still manages to execute some of his over the top performance in there from time to time. Luckily it's usually when it is needed so doesn't distract too much from the overall film. The supporting cast is pretty good featuring Malin Ackerman, Mark Valley, Danny Huston, and Josh Lucas who seemed to take over with the over the top delivery here. While a bit silly at times, Lucas character still works decently. What really make this film work at all are the decent action and the clever robbery scenarios. It has become pretty rare to deliver something all that interesting in film bank jobs, but here they did some pretty creative stuff.

This is a pretty average action thriller, but works well enough to have some fun. Most likely this only got theatrical release thanks to West's success on Expendables 2 and Cage's name, because on some levels it really feels more like a straight to video release. Either way, fans of Cage will have a good time and most likely everyone else will have mixed opinions.

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-dallas/bobby-blakey

"Bad idea to steal from American's greatest bank robber." Will Montgomery (Cage) is the best at what he does. He picks a crew and breaks in and steals what he wants when he wants. He has decided on one last heist. Four people, ten million dollars, and they go their separate ways. At the end of the heist one wrong move changes the lives of all four people involved. Eight years later Will is out of prison and ready to start his life over, but nothing is ever easy for an ex-con. Most of you know that I am not a Nicholas Cage fan at all. This movie isn't terrible and he really is toned down in this for the most part but still has a few Cage moments in this. The idea of this is a little overused and like most Cage movies lately the movie feels really cookie-cutter like but I will admit that the movie is pretty fast moving and is entertaining. For a non-Cage fan that's a pretty high remark. Overall, generic but entertaining. I give it a B+.

Sometimes the way a movie is marketed and released often makes people pass judgment and the fact that a Nicolas Cage action movie was released straight to DVD may give people a bad impression of the film even before they see it. The movie has to be much more entertaining and this is exactly what I found in Stolen.

Nicolas Cage gives another fine heartfelt performance and Josh Lucas plays one of the creepiest characters that will surely be remembered. "My kids are afraid of him and my kids are in their twenties". A classic line in the movie describing Lucas's character. Danny Huston is a very underrated actor who also portrays his character with a bit of creepiness.

Plenty of action to start the movie and a great cast with terrific chemistry makes Stolen worth every minute.

Simon West Directed 'Stolen' is A Fast-Paced Thriller that lives up-to the expectations. It has the potential to keep you hooked!

'Stolen' Synopsis: A former thief frantically searches for his missing daughter, who has been kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a taxi.

'Stolen', though predictable, doesn't fail you engage you. It has an interesting story-line, that has been executed appropriately by Simon West. David Guggenheim's Screenplay is surely predictable, but entertaining & fast nonetheless. Cinematography is eye-filling.

Performance-Wise: Nicolas Cage is in terrific form. The Oscar-Winning Actor carries the film on his shoulders. Josh Lucas is gloriously evil in here. Malin Åkerman looks stunning & delivers a subtle performance. Danny Huston is first-rate. Sami Gayle is sincere. M. C. Gainey is as usual.

On the whole, 'Stolen' succeeds by your holding your attention well.

Not really, especially if you think about what he did last year (Mechanic, Jason Statham) and more recently with Expandables 2. So Stolen is kind of the odd one out of that trio of movies. While it does have some fine acting talent involved, it never really takes off. It's not a complete letdown either, so you get a movie by the numbers.

There's quite a few things that you can see coming (rather predictable then) and the story does have some neat coincidences happening, that could only happen in a movie like this. One of my pet peeves gets checked too (unfortunately). It's when a character explains what is obvious. It's selling the viewer short (most of them anyway) and it's something I don't like at all.

Acting-wise it's OK and the "tension" is there almost until the end.

Great movie? Nah...

Fun to watch just the same? yea!

Here's what it comes down to.. do you like Nick Cage? If you do, watch the movie, you'll enjoy it. Beats an a couple hours of work. Don't like Nick Cage, than I'd pass.

I actually found a few of the scenes, especially in the beginning, very engaging and exciting. The dialog could use some serious help, but if you can overlook this, it's not a horrible way to spend an 1.5hrs.

I've seen a lot worse with much higher ratings here on IMDb.COM.

If you're looking for a fun to watch action film with one of Hollywood's A-listers, look no further.

Master thief, Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage), leaves jail after serving 8-years for a heist gone bad. His cohorts (he never gave them up) in crime believe Will has the 10-million somewhere and they want it. They kidnap his daughter Allison (Sami Gayle) as leverage to get that money. Will claims he burned the money before he was caught. What to do? What to do? What to do?

This starts out good up to the time when daughter Allison is kidnapped. Then it becomes too workman-like rushing around to save Allison. Will tries to get the cops to help but they don't believe him either about the 10-million and watch him like a hawk. Vince (Josh Lucas) the former partner in crime who kidnaps Allison plays the role somewhat over the top. Lucas doesn't make a good bad guy and for the most part was too animated, hence: annoying.

So we are left with a chase movie the rest of the way with the cops always in the wrong place and trying catch up. The vehicle stunts were very good and hard to believe they did these stunts during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. Ouch !

Yes, there are similarities to the movie TAKEN, but in that movie Liam Neeson had fighting skills we agreed with. In here no such karate, Judo or other moves were demonstrated. Bummer.

I like Nicolas Cage, but this movie was kind of disappointing and I just didn't care if Will succeeded with his plan. I must admit that when Will and Vince meet up for their fight at the end it was very exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat. Great choreography. However, that didn't make up for everything that went before. So I have no choice to chalk this up to being disappointing. (5/10)

However, I will still run to a Nicolas Cage movie in the future. It's what I do. HA !

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

This is by far Nichola Cage's worst movie ever! I mean the story sucked, the acting was terrible and if you pay attention to certain scenes they are just dumb. BY FAR WORST NICHOLAS CAGE MOVIE EVER! From the part when he saves his daughter from the trunk and the car doesn't sink until he locks up the retard who stole his daughter and then all of the sudden it dropped down to the bottom of the ocean all the way to the FBI detective who was driving was being told to look up some type of information as he is driving and the dumb detective is sitting on the passenger seat doing nothing as they are trying to catch up to the next crime scene! This movie was totally unrealistic and dumb. He goes to jail for 8 years and comes back out to steal more money which he could have easily done the first time around but instead he decides when his daughter gets snatched up he can go ahead and steal millions of gold bars by melting them through the floor of the vault! COME ON! That was totally dumb and unrealistic! THE MOVIE IS TERRIBLE! Don't WASTE YOU TIME!

A former thief (Nicolas Cage) frantically searches for his missing daughter (Sami Gayle), who has been kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a taxi.

This is a film that was little-known and will likely be forgotten. Surviving in theaters only two weeks, it lost millions of dollars and reviews were overwhelmingly negative. I cannot say I am surprised -- the film works off a premise not entirely different than "Taken" (for example), but casts the notoriously unpredictable Cage in what should be a Liam Neeson role.

But overall I actually liked it. The opening heist sequence I could do without, but once Cage is released from prison, it gets a bit more exciting and is a worthy effort. Cage and director Simon West previously worked together on "Con Air", which is the better film, but here the three way chase between kidnapper, thief and the law makes for a fairly decent (even if highly implausible) story.

Although not great, it is far from the worst Nicholas Cage film out there... or even in recent years. An action star he is not, but sometimes you do not need to be.

I'm a huge Nicolas Cage fan, and was really excited about this movie, but I was let down. To be honest, it didn't hold my attention at all. I was bored, it was too predictable, and honestly I wouldn't bother with this one.

I won't spoil it by telling you the ending, but if you have a brain, you can work it out yourself.

big waste of time and energy.. I don't recommend this at all. Find something with more "grunt" to it.

I love action movies, but not this one.

Even the acting by Nicolas was average. ho hum. another dud

When New Orleans based thief Will Montgomery and colleagues rob a bank things don't go according to plan. The cops close in and his associates abandon him; he has the ten million dollars they stole but when the police arrest him there is no sign of it. He spends eight years in jail and both the FBI and his former friends suspect he will go for the money. Instead he goes to see his now teenaged daughter, Alison... she is less keen to see him though and catches a cab to school. Unfortunately for her it is driven by Will's former associate Victor, a bitter man determined to get his money. He kidnaps Alison and gives Will twelve hours to get him ten million dollars. Since Will destroyed the money to avoid being caught with it he has to either find Vincent or steal another ten million dollars.

If you are looking for something new then you won't find it here; however if you just want a by the number action thriller you could do a lot worse. The story might not be that original but it delivers plenty of exciting action, there is a near constant sense of urgency and tension once Alison has been kidnapped and there is a modicum of humour... I'm sure the boss of the taxi company was based on Danny DeVito's character in 'Taxi'! The action includes running through New Orleans during Mardi Gras, shootings, car chases and a fight in a pool of burning petrol. Nicolas Cage is of good form as Will although unfortunately he never gets to 'turn it up to eleven' the way he can do. Josh Lucas is delightfully disturbing as Vincent and young Sami Gale is solid as Alison. The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Overall I wouldn't call this a must see but it is definitely worth watching if you enjoy the genre.

You would think Nick Cage would finally stop with the identical and always predictable actions, but this one just hits rock bottom. The moment I saw the trailer I was kind of confused as to wasn't there such movie made just a year ago with Cage? Kidnapped daughter, granddaughter, some cheap fighting scenes and banal storyline is all you can associate with Cage lately. However, unlike Drive Angry, this one is so terribly made it is almost painful. The whole story reminds you of the typical action movies from the mid-90's and everything is so claustrophobic, it is hardly watchable. It feels as if all the action is taking place in one street. The acting is atrocious and I will not even go there with details. Cage is predictable and seems as bored with the role as he was in the second Ghost Rider movie. If you are new to Cage and under 16 you might find this remotely interesting, but otherwise, you could just find Gone in 60 seconds and enjoy it again.

Love to watch Nicolas's movie. Now if you are looking for PERFECT HOT TOP BOX MOVIE, this isn't it, you probably have to look for it long, long time. But this is nice and well executed movie deserves 8 to 9 rating. Name 10 movies that has perfect comments in 10, no,give you more time, in 20 seconds. Yesh, I thought so, can't name much. Folks, this movie is good for entertainment but also, let's you the love about father to daughter. You don't see that in B graded or 3rd graded movie. Heck, these days, even hit box movies don't have it, all there is smash and and lots of killing. Explosions and smashing movies are good for fun, but I would like to watch more movies about human natures and with some exciting actions. This one doesn't have too much action but well enough. Go and watch and if you enjoyed it, you are true film lover, if you didn't, go and make the films for yourself and see how nice you could make or perform.

Will (Nicolas Cage) is a master thief and the leader of a group which also includes Vincent (Josh Lucas) and Riley (Malin Ackerman) in magnificent New Orleans. Will, despite his profession, dotes on his young daughter Alison. One unhappy day, a major heist of the group is foiled by the FBI, with Will taking the fall for the others. Stupidly, Vincent rashly went against Will's orders and got himself seriously wounded in the leg, but gets away. Flash forward eight years and Will is just getting out of prison, determined to go straight. But, first, he tries to contact his loved ones. He finds Riley working in a bar, also leading the non-criminal lifestyle. But, Alison is not friendly and hops a cab when he tries to talk to her. Alas, it is the cab from HELL as a pegleg and embittered Vincent is kidnapping the young teen to make the money start flowing which he believes Will made of with alone. Can Will rescue his child? This ordinary thriller has a great cast and location which makes it come alive. Cage is great while Lucas is scary as the hideously changed bad guy. Do you like Cage and fine action films? Get Stolen!

Hey, do you like action films, chase scenes, speeding cars, cool guys and super bad villains? If you do don't bother with this mindless piece of junk. People, life is way to short to bother spending a couple of hours watching these pathetic actors/actress go through their robotic paces with a script so transparent a 5 year old could of written better. To say I hated this movie would be paying it with too much praise. There are so many good movies to view, don't even consider this one. Hollywood needs to know that the general public won't stand for these mindless, brain-dead, dime a dozen movies. And by the way, I'll never watch another Nicholas Cage film again, he must be desperate to sign on for the junk he's put out this year, enough is enough!!