Stolen

Plot synopsis:
In New Orleans, the notorious bank thief and family man Will Montgomery steals $10m with his partners Vincent, Riley Jeffers and Hoyt. However, he has an argument with Vincent during the getaway and Hoyt leaves Will behind with money. He tries to flee but the FBI agent Tim Harlend organizes a manhunt and Will is captured. He burns the stolen money to get rid of the evidence against him. Eight years later, Will leaves the prison and he goes to the house of his teenage daughter Alison Loeb, 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 $10m of the last robbery. Now Will has twelve hours to find a way to rescue his daughter from the hands of the psychopath Vincent.Vincent soundproofs a cab trunk, drugs Alison, and drives around, making threats and killing people at random. Apparently, this is how he stays off the radar.Will buys a prepaid phone and sends Vincent's phone to Alabama to buy time, then he accosts Hoyt. Hoyt is conveniently killed by the police, and Will carjacks a cab and tries to track Vincent, all while evading the hopeless FBI/police. Will contacts Riley and they somehow get a truckload of specialized equipment to break into the same bank, stealing gold bars to pay off Vincent. Harlend continues his chase, ineffectually. Riley and Will make for the ferry, using a mannequin to fool the cops.Will meets Vincent with the money at the fairground, lugging $10m in gold bars in a duffel bag. Vincent shoots Will and lights the cab on fire. Despite a bullet in his ribs, Will beats up Vincent, lights him on fire, and drives the cab into the water, apparently drowning his daughter. Vincent, also despite being gravely wounded, wades into the water to battle Will. After some underwater karate moves, Will beats Vincent (again) and rescues Alison. Vincent returns from another beating, and Will sticks a tire iron through him, pushing him into the trunk, which closes, and the car conveniently slides deeper into the water.Alison holds Will until the police arrive. Harlend decides to absolve Will of all his recent crimes.Sometime later, the FBI are still watching Will, and watch him throw away the last chunk of gold. Harlend is relieved that he doesn't have to arrest Will again. As Will and Riley join Alison at the BBQ, we see the chunk of gold is still on the table; Will threw a stone pineapple away, fooling the brilliant Harlend.

Tags: revenge, comedy, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
That story is as by-the-numbers as they come, but moves into farcical territory when he has to pay $10 million to get his daughter back and the means in which he does so is beyond stupid and so implausible that it would have lost all credibility had there been any credibility left to lose.The film is said to have had a budget of $35 million but it looks like, at very best, a flashy TV pilot and it saddens me to think that the director and star of 1997's Con Air have been reduced to this utter rubbish.
The only positive comes from the score by Mark Isham which belongs to a much better film than this and ironically comes across as if it were another film's score played over the top of the nonsense on screen.Despite being one of the best actors of his generation and producing performances that no other actor could have given (examples include Leaving Las Vegas, Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, Adaptation), the roles Cage is choosing and the performances he is now churning out are undoing all the good work he has achieved and are turning him into box office poison and a name synonymous with B-movie fodder.Nicolas Cage has always been a firm favourite of mine and I'll still watch anything he makes, but it's becoming harder to forgive him as each new below-par film gets made, gets released, and gets forgotten about..
Stolen (2012) ** (out of 4)After serving eight years in prison, former thief Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage) goes to see his daughter but a former partner (Josh Lucas) has kidnapped her.
Stolen has been described as one of those Nicolas Cage films that qualifies as being so bad it's quite entertaining, if only to see just how ludicrous things can become.
In 2008, French director Pierre Morel made an action thriller with 56- year-old Irish actor, Liam Neeson, who was earlier best known to the world at large as various things, none of them having anything remotely to do with action or thrill.The film, about a father who is hunting down the kidnappers of his daughter, went on to be a spectacular success and with it, Liam Neeson turned from the softy Oskar Schindler and the father of the cute kid from Love Actually, to a badass, who "does not know who you are, does not know what you want, but will find you, and will kill you," for reasons like err calling him a softy.Hollywood was, of course, mighty surprised how a film that turned a presumably over-the-hill actor into a clinical killer of people who annoyed him, and decided it was time to pay an ode to the movie by doing two things: Making a sequel that was exactly the same film (Taken 2), and rehashing the film into exactly the same film (Stolen).Both released in 2012, and both are so very abysmal that you don't allow yourself to fall asleep in the theatre because somewhere, deep down inside of you, you truly feel that putting yourself through the movie could help atone for your sins.You can read my review of Taken 2 (and the 5 Rules of making a Hollywood Sequel) in the archives, but here's my review of Stolen, which is probably the most original thing about the movie:Stolen is such an uninteresting, uninspiring and unnecessary rehash of Taken that even the makers felt guilty enough to admit the truth about the movie's origins in its name – the film is literally stolen from Taken.The story is precisely that: about a father (Nicolas Cage) hunting down the kidnapper of his daughter (Sami Gayle), who has been taken from him.
The movie could still have been a notch above dung, had the very hot Malin Akerman given some sort of a preview of what she has in store for us in her upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic, but unfortunately the movie has no, umm, 'aesthetically shot' swimsuit moments either, which almost made Taken 2 bearable.And I have to admit, I was actually looking forward to the movie because the last time Stolen director Simon West and Nicolas Cage came together, they gave us the Die Hard of aviation films, Con Air, whose climactic action scene is alone worth the price of Stolen's ticket.
With Stolen, working with Simon West once again to try and recreate a box office smash since their Con Air collaboration, this film was unceremoniously pulled from the US screens after 2 weeks of chalking up less than 1% of its production costs, and looked destined for the video shelves until distributors here feel that local audiences are still holding a candle for Cage and his career.
Set in New Orleans and predominantly in the Madi Gras celebrations for the most parts, it deals with the bad blood between Vincent (Josh Lucas) and Will Montgomery (Cage), the latter who has been put away for 8 years in their last collaborative effort gone wrong, with the former now after the 10 million that Will supposedly stashed away.With the cops led by Tim Harlend (Danny Huston) also after Will as well in order to recover the same amount of money, Will now gets sapped into a cat and mouse game with the police, who refuse to listen to the pleas of a ex-felon regarding the kidnap of his daughter, as well as to hunt down Vincent in his moving cab, having drugged and hiding Will's daughter Alison (Sami Gayle) in a reinforced boot.
And I guess Simon West really didn't care about the music used in the film, where the score by Mark Isham got so repetitive, you'd wonder if they had paid for only one tune to be reused so extensively throughout the movie.Nicolas Cage goes through the motions here in a role that can be played by just about any amateur, and as I mentioned, his career is really in the doldrums right now if he continues with movies destined for the home rental bargain bin.
Malin Akerman has a small role as the token love interest, a one time crew member of Will's operation who has now gone clean and working in a police bar, having to flex some of her Swedish language, while Sami Gayle only had to pout a lot and become the damsel in distress for the film.Stolen, formerly known as Medallion after the name of the type of cabs in the movie, throws up nothing new.
Another day, another Dollar for Nick Cage as he reunites with 'Con Air' director Simon West.Cage plays Will Montgomery, a big time thief who is captured by the Feds pulling off a multi-million dollar bank heist, he burns the money to reduce his sentence, but one of his co-horts doesn't believe his story and wants his cut of the loot.Nick Cage um, is Nick Cage, bug eyed and slightly manic, the bad guy has six fingers and one leg (the character is a mad mix of the Family Guy's pirate and Bobcat Goldthwaite!) there's car chases and explosions as you would expect, 90 minutes of nonsense and instantly forgettable.Nick, bar Kick Ass your cv really is going down the tubes in the past few years.....
At a minimum, I think that anyone that watches this movie come away entertained.Why You Might Not Like It: Although the cast is noticeable, they aren't great in this film.
If you go into this expecting a air tight heist/ransom film, you will be disappointed.Acting/Casting: 6* Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 6.5*Plot/Characters: 6* Entertainment Value: 6.5* Total - 6+6.5+6+6.5 - 25/4 = 6.25 - Worth a watch.
There's someone else who's sure he's got the money -- and he'll move heaven and earth or go the kidnapping route to get it.Lots of car chases and dazzling stunt driving in this short film, with good performances by Cage and Josh Lucas, whom I so liked in the TV series "The Firm." There's just not an awful lot to the film -- it's done by the numbers, but still manages to entertain.
Ultimately Satisfying, Believe It Or Not. 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.
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...
Filemed in new Orleans during the Mardi Gras carnival, adds a bit of Southern Comfort to the fast paced action.Nicolas Cage remains at his best.Not sure how good the FBI looks after watching this movie,but yet again that's not our problem.Some scenes might remind you of Det. Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle but this time in New Orleans.All The actors take their role seriously and give a good show..
Whenever I see Nicolas Cage's name on a movie poster, I know that no matter the film, I'm going to see a great performance.
Nicolas Cage stars in this action/crime thriller as Will Montgomery, a professional thief, who comes out of "retirement" when he learns of his daughter's kidnapping, and the only way to get her back is to steal $10m for a ransom.To be honest, the first movie I thought of when watching Stolen was Taken.
Stolen is one of those movies you put on to try to help you fall asleep at nights, or something in the background if you are doing housework, or that you put on during a date if you are trying to get rid of your unwanted partner.Directed by Simon West who is very hit or miss, Stolen has Ridiculous Cage playing typical Cage, but is a little more watchable than usual.While not completely unwatchable, Stolen is highly predictable from the opening 10 minutes which makes it harder to sit through because you damn well know what is going to happen, and how it plays out.Along with that, there is some utterly ridiculous moments that only Hollywood would do in thinking the general public are too stupid to notice that you couldn't actually pull that off in real life!Now yes, I get it, its a movie, but my god what a confused movie.
Wrong.Cage spends the majority of the movie trying to get his daughter back through direct means i.e. crashing cars and elbowing people in the face.When he finally decides to try stealing the money, the ingenuity of his plan is one step up from punching the bank teller out and legging it with a bundle of cash.Very silly, immensely dull, the characters are stupidly over the top.
The movie does start out at a fast pace and continues in a fast pace until the very end.The movie is predictable to the core, sure, but it is one of those types of movies suitable when you are looking for a movie that requires no thinking at all.Aside from Nicolas Cage, then the people on the cast list were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters.
With the trendy "kidnapped daughter" plot, stolen from Taken's playbook, Nicolas Cage once again disappoints in his all new movie made of mediocrities and no appeal.
STOLEN contains poor, predictable action scenes and too many unbelievable moments to be an effective thriller; check out some Mark Wahlberg movies like CONTRABAND and BROKEN CITY for better attempts at the genre..
Cage keeps us on the edge and carries every scene on his shoulders.Malin Akerman is almost non-existent There is no Love angle only a father going about to rescue his daughter Like watching Kurt Russel in Breakdown searching for his wife.The FBI team is good have made their presence worth it Other characters of the movie might well be out of any B movie A nice thrill ride if you ignore the predictable turn of events ..I give it a seven only because Cage make this ordinary bag of movie watchable.
Just a mix-up of movies like taken, gone in 60 seconds.(2) Same old dialogues we have heard before.(3) Poorly executed bank robberies.(4) Badly done action scenes.(5) Good actors with week roles.
I watched this movie just because of nicholas cage but he really disappointed me.An actor like him should not work for this movie.stolen is just an ordinary story like other movies in which time domain and money relationship is given to the hero and he has to complete this task otherwise his loved one will be harmed..there are some out fashioned "X" factors like 'when his daughters finger was about to reach the mobile the cab suddenly stops and the mobile slips off from the seat..in actual FBI is not as inefficient as shown in the movie.And in the end hero has no gun for protection although he is a mastermind and a welknown thief...
Con Air?) the audiences into parting with their money.Cage has, of course, ventured into robbery territory before, for example, Gone In 60 Seconds(2000), in which a skillful car thief is forced to come out of retirement to save his abducted brother.In Stolen, just-released skillful bank robber Will Montgomery is forced to come out of his shell to save his kidnapped daughter Alison (Sami Gayle).Earlier, the audience is privy to a bank robbery gone wrong when Will shoots his accomplice Vincent (Josh Lucas) in the leg to prevent him from killing an eye-witness.
I wonder when the next one is coming out?" Nicolas Cage returns to New Orleans to play super thief Will Montgomery, who unfortunately gets nabbed on his first movie heist.
The second collaboration between Actor Nicolas Cage and Director Simon West turns out to be a disaster of an action movie.
I thought the FBI team were very good in the film and the actors played their parts well and i enjoyed the chase scenes with Nicolas Cage.
Nicolas Cage played a pretty cool character in my opinion and i liked him in this film and i liked the bond he had with his daughter i thought it was nice, and it was touching the way he cared about her and went places with her.
This film may have a few problems but its still a very entertaining Action packed movie and i found the bank Robbery scenes interesting, it was interesting seeing how Nicolas Cage stole all the money.
At times I thought he was really great but then by the end his character is reduced to this cheesy, over dramatic horror movie monster and yet I still enjoyed their last battle that had him coming at Cage like a beast.Despite being predictable, over dramatic, and rehashed material the film is still fun enough to watch and enjoy.