Stolen (2012) - Review

Stolen is a 2012 action/heist movie starring Nicolas Cage, Danny Huston, Josh Lucas, Malin Åkerman, M.C. Gainey, and Sami Gayle. Will Montgomery (Cage) is a bank robber who has just been released from prison after 8 years. He was the only person in his crew (Åkerman, Gainey, Lucas) to have been captured on a heist where the $10 million dollars was burned before Will was captured. The otehr members of his crew were able to make it away from the scene of the crime before Will was nabbed by Agent Harland (Hutson) of the FBI. Upon his release from prison, Will learns that his presumed dead ex-crewmate, Vincent (Lucas) has kidnapped Will's estranged daughter, Alison, (Gayle) and wants his share of the money he presumes is still in circulation. Will must not only try and find Vincent to save Alison, but come up with Vincent's share of the lost money years prior with the help of the remainder of his former crew. 

To call Stolen a heist movie is almost disingenuine. The movie hardly spends time on the act of burgaling into a location and retrieving money. The movie posits Will as the world's best bank robber, and really goes hard to sell it by showing the ease at which he and his crew set up for a score and get accomplish their goals. There isn't any anxiety as to his capability to not only infiltrate a location, but exfiltrate without a hitch - him being captured is only a result of one of his crewmates deviating from the plan and leaving him in a desperate situation. The real meat of the movie deals with Vincent and Will's destruction of NOLA during Mardi Gras and evasion from teh FBI. There is a sort of warmness between Will and Agent Harland that is refreshing - it almost feels as though they are in a brotherly relationship the way they interact, but that does not distract from the fact that Will does violate the terms of his parole in his pursuit to find his daughter. Lucas' Vincent is a shell of his former self, and has spiraled into madness leading to kidnapping a minor to get to Will and the money he suspects is still available. Everything seemed grounded in this movie except for this character. Yes, the motivation is completed in the introduction scene of this movie, but this character seems better in place in the Batman universe as the Joker more than he does a washed out bank robber. 

I remember watching this movie when it was released on DVD, driving to BestBuy to see if they got it in stock the Tuesday night it was supposed to be. I was expecting an unhinged Nic Cage and was disappointed at the time, but my feelings on the movie has changed quite a bit as I watch it again. I do not think that this is a particularly noteworthy movie, but it is enjoyable for Lucas' anachronistic performance alone. Toward the end of the movie, I wanted to measure the distance that Cage travels on foot; most of the movie is Cage running through various neighborhoods in NOLA in a jacket and long pants, only out of breath when he crashes a car and pulls himself from the wreckage.  If you do not come in expecting a zany Cage, you might come out on the other side enjoying this bad movie a little bit.