Stolen Reviews

Cast: Josh Lucas, Jon Hamm, Jimmy Bennett, Rhona Mitra, James Van Der Beek, Jessica Chastain, Beth Grant, Rutanya Alda, Morena Baccarin, Christian Bender

Director: Anders Anderson

Summary: Investigating the mystery behind the mummified, half-century-old remains of a young boy found in a box at a construction site gives a detective (Jon Hamm) key clues to his own son's disappearance eight years prior.

My Thoughts: "The mystery of the story is good and really keeps you at bay to who has taken/killed these children. But once he is shown, I was definitely surprised. The story unfolds in flashbacks. I found the Wakefield story more interesting then the present one. But there were character's and some scenes that just didn't need to be in the story or just didn't make sense. Like (a previous reviewer mentioned) the gas station couple. He was way to protective over his wife for her to be out late at a bar. Just didn't make sense. I will say the stories are both sad and you feel for the fathers. But Rhona Mitra gave a wooden performance and I found it hard to believe her as a mourning mother. Besides those bit of annoyances, it was a good suspense/mystery film."

Dark, grim, and emotionally gripping murder mystery that spans 50 years. From the onset the movie has a grim feel to it, and as it flashes back and forth between 2008 and 1958, you are slowly engrossed in a serial killer mystery. The performances by all are very good. The story is a very sad one, as any movie that revolves around child murders would be. Good movie, leaves you thinking.

It is 2008 and Detective Tom Adkins(Jon Hamm) is called to a crime scene at a building site with his wife Barbara(Rhona Mitra) to see if the body is that of their son who disappeared from a diner eight years previously. It turns out that it is not theirs since the body is fifty years old.

It is 1958 and Matthew Wakefield(Josh Lucas) has two days to make a payment on his mortgage or the bank will foreclose on his house. In fact, he does not even have that much time when his wife hangs herself. And then it turns out that his sister Coral(Kali Rocha) can only take in two of his sons, leaving John(Jimmy Bennett) in his care.

"Stolen" might possibly have had a chance at success if it had stayed mostly with solving the 1950's mystery in the present because all we need to know about Matthew is that he is a drifter with a son, along with Jon Hamm nailing the anguish of a grieving parent perfectly. That's not excusing the movie's predictability, rendering it pretty much routine anyway, as this is the kind of movie that is designed to get under the skin of parents by warning them never to turn their backs on their children for a second or else very bad things will happen.(Look, I hate kids, will never have any and frankly don't care.) But blinking is still okay.

When you watch a lot of independent and direct-to-video films, you see a lot of garbage, but occasionally you find a gem that makes it all worthwhile, Stolen, is one of those gems. This story was so intriguing and well written that I was absolutely blown away. The film is about a detective whose son went missing, without a trace, eight years ago. The trail is cold and he's beginning to accept that he will never find him, when a local construction crew finds a boy in a box. The body has been there for at least fifty years, but the case awakens something in the detective who has to learn the truth. From there, quite ingeniously, the film is divided into three different stories, the story of the boy in the box, the detectives investigation, and the story of his own child. It was seriously like watching three different movies at once, and they were all great! The cast was pretty phenomenal too, as this was a very hard thing to pull off, but they did it seemingly with ease. Josh Lucas just blew my mind, giving an unrivaled performance as the father of the other missing boy. I've seen him in things before, but nothing was as memorable as this. Stolen is a film that consists of three stories in once, that will pull on your emotions and have you on the edge of your seat. It's one of the best films I've seen all year and I can't recommend it enough!

The cast was certainly better than the material. An interesting premise taken to an unbelievable conclusion, Stolen Lives is a flawed movie. But I couldn't help but like the somber tone, and the 1958 storyline I found significantly more compelling than the modern day storyline. Being a big Mad Men fan I really like Jon Hamm. But I worry he won't escape the fate of David Duchovny. Duchovny was born to play Fox Mulder, and has found dubious success outside of that role. Jon Hamm was seemingly born to play Don Draper, but outside of that role he's yielded similar results as Duchovny.

A police detective, Tom Adkins (Jon Hamm), is haunted by the disappearance of his son 8 years ago. Then he discovers the remains of another boy, John about the same age as his own son, who was murdered 50 years previously. He becomes obsessed with the case, which has been long-forgotten, to try to find some vindication for what has happened to him. Is the 1958 case, involving down-on-his-luck dad of three family man, Matthew Wakefield (Josh Lucas) and his own son's disappearance linked in any way to that of Tom Adkins? The usual guilt and strain on his marriage to Barbara (Rhona Mitra) ensues, as he tries to go through life with this unsolved mystery haunting him because possibly, Tom might be the only one who can achieve justice for John, Matthew, and perhaps for his own son.

Do not expect any Mad Men performances here. The biggest reason to see Stolen is strictly for the cast and only a handful of the cast at that. Those who are looking for a striking genre piece or stroke-of-genius storytelling would do best to look for it elsewhere.

I liked the intertwined stories between the 2 time periods.

I really enjoyed Stolen Lives (Stolen) it isn't anything special or particularly memorable but the actors involved are great, and the story is well written.

Depressing movie. Good acting but not that great as a whole project. Good for one or two viewings but that's about it.

I thought this was interesting. A different role for Josh Lucas and James Van Der Beek. Lucas did well and I wished there had been more scenes with his life story and development but ultimately the story was about Jon Hamm's character. He was good but not quite there yet.

This film has such an interesting premise, but director Anders Anderson makes it a muddled mess of a film. It jumps around like crazy making it frustrating to watch. It is poorly edited, lacks a feeling for the time it was set and the writing is uninspired. At least the acting was good, as was the cinematography. It's not a dreadful film but is certainly a disappointment.

Irresponsible fathers and their dumb kids...

There can only be one lesson learned from "Stolen:" Never turn your back on your kid if you haven't taught him to not take candy from strangers. It's almost laughable that a cop's child could be lured away so easily by a creepy old stranger, and it's impossible to believe that a restaurant's patrons wouldn't have noticed their being there. What ever happened to asking the waitress to watch your kid while you go pee?
"Stolen" opens with a distraught Jon Hamm recollecting his child's abduction in an interrogation room. He delivers a quiet, heart-wrenching monologue that proves his exceptional talents beyond the juggernaut that is Don Draper. He plays Tom Adkins, a man without a child who clings to hopes that he still maybe alive. He is a cop too and has a wife that has grown away from him. The movie fails to clarify whether she's the biological mother, but she is all too ready to move on and threatens her husband to do the same, or else. Because of the Swiss-cheese script, it's hard to sympathize with her and you end up disliking her for all the unnecessary anguish she puts her husband through.
Tom is summoned to examine a skeleton buried at a construction site. The skeleton posses eerily similar features to his son and he believes its his until a corner's report reveals that the child is over fifty years old and had a mental disability. We flash backwards fifty years and follow the story of that child and his tragically tragic tale.
The boy's name is John and his disability varies for the convenience of the plot. His father, played by Josh Lucas in another lackluster performance, lost everything and has to move out of his home after a string of bad luck. He takes his three boys to a farm and has to take John somewhere else because his kinfolk don't wanna take in no retarded boys. John's father finds work and trouble a few towns down the road. He rudely flirts with a gas attendant's hot wife and ends up on the wrong side of that gas attendant's gun. His kid becomes a quick chore at work, so he has to find another place for him to stay. One night, he decides to leave his kid in his car while he gives into the temptations of the gas attendant's wife. His kid ends up kidnapped and its revealed that he was killed by a familiar face off-camera. The big reveal is predictable because only one character's head could possibly look like that in a hat.
The movie's narrative moves back and forth between Tom's, John's, and John's father's stories. When Tom finds a clue, we flashback in time and every time we experiences a new revelation, we flash forwards to the present time. These scenes work well as we view an object in close-up and it transports us through time--A small scene with a piece of aging wood was a nice touch.
"Stolen" has a decent style and is well directed in parts. It boasts a great cast with a strong supporting performance by an underused Jessica Chastain. However, the movie lacks focus and doesn't connect the multiple stories as well as other films have done in this genre-- for over half the film, I thought Jon Hamm's character was one of John's brothers, I'm sure I'm not alone. They completely forget about closing John's father's story arch which is a prominent example of lazy film making. The cumulative result is highly underwhelming and feels like its a part of a different movie altogether.
John Hamm's "Tom" is a character that deserves a better movie. He's great and his final interrogation scene rivals his powerful, bulldogging performance in "The Town." He's proven he can play different characters, each as convincing as the next, but his talents are levels above this film.

Grade: D-

One of the most depressing films I've ever seen. I don't know why people like watching fathers go the pain of the loss of they're kids,and the end of it when he admits it to the father of the boy he killed,you just wanna kill him yourself.

Out of boredom I decided to watch a movie. I was still bored when the credits rolled, just slightly disgruntled too.

Wow...this looks stupid-real real stupid.

A mediocre teledrama

Well made, but disturbing.

This film was all good till I realised the story in the end does not add up as the timings are all wrong. - Oscar

If it were not for an built in emotionally gripping story and the natural charm of the main stars it would have been no more than a lifetime movie of the week. They had all the players and the gameplan to make it a winner and instead it stumbles across the finish line. Should have had a different Director.