Review of Stolen (2012) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

Terms that come to mind regarding this film include lazy and bog standard - it doesn't try to break out the usual elements to become a standout action movie, instead relying on things present in many other similar movies (hence the lazy claim) with little else to separate it . It tries to create a tense atmosphere at times with such rip-roaring dialogue including 'you tell me where she is or ill blow your lunch all over your apartment!' - riveting stuff? not entirely. It became a bit farcical when one scene involved Alison apparently attempting to call 911 on a Blackberry phone (which are known for having quite small keys) on the back seat of the taxi, even though she could barely see (if at all) - I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe she could feel her way to nearly dial a number on a small smartphone like that at a distance without being able to see better, it just didn't seem credible to me, which I think made me take it less seriously at that point and thats a fairly small point to complain about I suppose compared to other plot elements such as Will being run over and somehow magically standing up and walking away with next to no injuries or other consequences.

To me, this seemed too much of a case of 'been there, done that' in that there are already so many other movies that have the same basic premise, the whole damsel in distress, good guy trying to redeem himself from his shady past who gets caught up and isn't believed when he really needs help and so on. Very little about it stood out and so I'd say its not a very memorable movie overall, although its easy enough to watch and it does offer some degree of entertainment value, in that the pace (plot wise) is pretty fast and it doesn't require any real amount of brain work to follow. I felt that the musical score was used a bit too heavily at times, almost as if the filmmakers were desperate to convince viewers that this is a real fast paced, exciting, amazing movie when really, to me, it came across as somewhat lazy and moreso pretty bog standard overall.

I don't like that Alison, once taken hostage and when given screen time, appears very much to be the scared damsel in distress type and while she does attempt to run, she also falls into the usual stereotype of the helpless, scared kid/teen waiting for her hero to rescue her and prove her wrong, kinda thing - cue fairly heavy eye rolling. I suppose I dont mind that so much given the plot, anyone in that position would likely react in a similar way and she does attempt to help herself such as with the phone but there's also moments like when she's on the phone to Will saying how scared she is of the man and I just couldn't help but think 'oh brother(!)'. Its a bit ironic as the actress who plays Alison, Sami Gayle, also stars in a US drama series about NYPD cops and in that show, she plays a very headstrong and self assured girl and although she does show some signs of this in the movie, I'd like to have seen more of that personally, from the plot - I guess I can't blame the actress for that.

The acting came across as pretty bog standard but then of course the cast can only really ever be as good as the script their given and the direction they work under. Content wise, its about what you'd expect for an action/drama movie with a 12 certificate, some violence and bad language, no real sex references or anything too crude, nothing like that, no drugs references etc., as far as I can remember anyway, or it probably would have been given a higher rating. Other than that, what can be said? very little, that I can think of.

Funnily enough, overall no, I wouldn't specifically recommend this movie, which shouldn't come as a shock if you read the previous section of my review. Overall, this movie is just too formulaic and doesn't feature anything to make it particularly memorable or a good example of its type of action movie - it relies on heavily trodden ground and is easily forgotten, put it that way. I'd have given it a better write up if it didn't feature such farcical, unrealistic elements in the storyline, as previous mentioned, although I suppose if you really wanted to stick up for it, you could say thats part of its charm and I imagine it was never made to be a movie to be seriously analysed and taken too seriously. It is watchable and somewhat entertaining but without much substance, its not the best of its kind, so overall I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to watch it.