Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Master thief Will Montgomery is just released from the State penitentiary after serving a 10 year sentence, is contacted by Vincent, his ex comrade in crime, who is holding Will’s teenage daughter ransom in a hijacked taxi cab. Vincent will only surrender her when Will reveals the whereabouts of the 20 million dollars he contrived to conceal from their last robbery.
Stolen (2012) is a fairly generic action-thriller that checks familiar boxes without distinguishing itself in any meaningful way. The plot is a recycled father-daughter hostage premise grafted onto a heist framework, offering little surprise or ingenuity. Nicolas Cage delivers a routine performance, and the supporting cast is similarly unremarkable. Cinematography is competent but uninspired, with the New Orleans Mardi Gras setting providing some visual texture that goes largely unexploited. The film offers minimal novelty, feeling derivative of better thrillers in the same mold. The ending resolves predictably with no particular dramatic punch. Across all dimensions, the film sits squarely in below-average territory, consistent with its modest reputation.