Stolen (2012)

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Malin Akerman, & Josh Lucas

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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. While Cage has done every conceivable genre, he is of course best know for his action films. In Stolen, Cage once again teams with his Director from Con Air, Simon West, to give us another exciting thriller. Cage plays Will Montgomery, a career criminal who has just spent eight years in prison. Montgomery comes out wanting to start a new life, but that's put on hold when he learns that a former enemy has kidnapped his daughter and is holding her for ransom. I guess no one has ever told Nicolas Cage that you're supposed to slow down with age, because he is just as good in this movie as he is in all his other films. Cage, notorious for performing his own stunts, does some amazing things in this film and is of course pure intensity. In this film he's paired with Josh Lucas who was in a film by the same title in 2009, not to be confused with that movie, Lucas plays Montgomery's partner in crime and throughout this film you can see him and Cage feed off of one another, too me, that was the best part. Lets be honest here, rarely do action films have a decent story to distinguish themselves from one another. Stolen is no different, a daughter in peril, held by a weird foul mouthed bad guy, who is being chased by a want to be hero with a less than stellar reputation, you've seen this dozens of times.  What makes Stolen stand out from those other films is the cast, it's as simple as that. The cast really keeps you interested, even when the movie gets to be predictable and even when the stunts are impossible, the cast keep bringing you back to the edge of your seat, with their great performances and extreme intensity. For that reason, even though this is a familiar and predictable film, Stolen stood out from all the other action films I've seen lately.