Customer Reviews

Stolen [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I watched this movie expecting to see an ordinary murder mystery. Instead, I was deeply moved by the story of one man's journey to redemption and the unbearable grief a father sustains at the tragic loss of his child under circumstances that lead the fatheer to blame himself.

A policeman (actor John Hamm)investigates the discovery of a child's body in a box in the foundation of a 50 year old building and determines that the death of the child is connected to the disappearance of his small boy ten years before. Meanwhile, a parallel story is occurring some 50 years before to another man (actor Josh Lucas) and the disappearance of his small boy. In each cases the father took his eyes off of his child for a short time and in each case the child disappeared, never to be found.

Now, the detective searches for what happened to the boy in the box, hoping to somehow find his son alive. As the suspense builds and the two stories begin to head toward an intersection, the emotional intensity of the movie takes it from an ordinary whodunnit to tour de force of the power of love, grief, and reconciliation.

The acting is superb, the directing is gifted, and the simplicity of the various settings and characters remind me of another great movie based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer prize winning "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Jon Hamm does a great job here as a detective whose son goes missing and who also ends up investigating another case of a missing boy from 50 years earlier. Much of the movie is given in flashbacks, while the present shows what a strain the detective is under because of the conflicts with his wife and his own strong feelings.

James van der Beek, a long way from Dawson's Creek, also turns in a good performance as a hired hand who knows something about the 1958 case.

Worth a look.

"Stolen," of all the disappointing movies I've seen recently, had perhaps the greatest potential to be a memorable and heartrending thriller. Shot as two interwoven stories about child abduction, the film has a pleasantly grim feel. And while the main plot points certainly aren't revelatory or new, I found the narrative shot in parallel timeframes to be quite effective and interesting. Add a top notch cast headed by Jon Hamm and Josh Lucas, and I'm not quite sure what went wrong. By no means is "Stolen" a bad movie, it just left me a bit underwhelmed. Even so, it stands as a showcase for a couple of great performances. I've long thought that Josh Lucas was one of our more underrated actors, and it's always good to see him. And Hamm, now at the height of his popularity, brings a believable intensity to the proceedings.

When Hamm's son goes missing at a rural town carnival, there are no leads in the disappearance. Hamm, a local police officer, doggedly pursues the case to no avail. When a child's body is unearthed many years later, Hamm is convinced it's his son. But the body has been in the ground far too long, even though it bears a disturbing similarity to the current investigation. Through flashbacks and alternating timelines, we are then introduced to Lucas decades before--and you know that this story will explain the unmarked grave. And if Hamm can unravel this mystery, it just might help him determine what happened to his own son. Again, I thought both actors did well and both of the stories had grittiness and emotional anguish.

However, the actual mystery is a bit of a no-brainer, not altogether believable, and lacks the impact necessary to drive this tale home to a successful conclusion. I was left with my first reaction of "Duh..." and my next of "OK, so what..." Instead of trying to develop riveting psychological suspense, the end just sort of peters out with testimonials from old people who were only tangentially related to the plot in the first place. This misdirection derails any suspense that might have been generating by over-explaining a mystery we've already solved and no longer care about. Still, if you like the actors, I'd make this a recommendation. I may be a bit hard on "Stolen," but it's only because I wanted to love it. KGHarris, 11/10.

I enjoyed the intensity of emotion in this movie. There are so many movies out there where the actors don't appear to feel anything deep enough, like love or heartbreak or desperation; consequently neither can the audience. This story of these two fathers who so very much love their sons is well-done, with excellent acting by both Josh and Jon. For the most part, the transition from one time setting to the next is easy to follow; a fact that is so important in these kinds of movies. Contrary to what some others have said, the manner in which the incident takes place in 1958 is both tense and disturbing because this father does not have anyone who cares, to help him look for his son, and Josh's performance as a distraught father is so well done that it's upsetting to watch. Rhonda Mitra is good in her role, also. In fact, if a person really gets involved in the story, as opposed to looking for ways to tear it apart, the whole picture and all the characters work well together. The picture does start out slowly, but then, it's not a fast-action movie to begin with, and the manner in which the two stories gradually come together help to make it a film worth watching.

Stolen
Blu-Ray being released June 29, 2010

"Stolen" was directed by Anders Anderson and written by Glenn Taranto. It stars Jon Hamm as Detective Tom Adkins who in investigating his own son's disappearance comes across the body of another boy who was stolen from his father, Matthew Wakefield played by Josh Lucas in 1958. The story goes back and forth between the two as the Detective closes in on the truth of what happened to them.

This story is much more about Matthew Wakefield than Tom Adkins. We follow Wakefield as he falls into a downward spiral about to lose his house, losing his wife, having to send two of his sons to live with family, and trying to find and keep a job while taking care of his third son with special needs. He finally nabs a construction job, but that quickly falls into jeopardy when given the ultimatum by his boss that he can't bring young John with him to work any longer.

Tom Adkins loses his son early on in the film when young Tom, Jr. disappears from a diner they were eating in while Tom, Sr. was in the restroom. For eight years, the burden of the loss eats away at Tom and at his marriage with his wife, Barbara played by Rhona Mitra. Tom will not allow his son's room to be touched so it is left just as it was and the constant reminder of their son's absence tortures both parents.

Both men lost their sons around the same age and both deal with their absence/death painfully by staring into space with intensity as the strong, silent types. In the uneven storytelling and the flaws that both men carried in relation to how Wakefield acted before his son disappeared and how Adkins acted afterward to his family, while it was easy to imagine how difficult the loss would be to any parent, I didn't care particularly for either of them. Both instances happened very quickly and both men were partially to blame for the circumstances.

The movie jumps around just when you're beginning to get into one story or the other. The most disappointing aspect of the movie is its predictability. At no point in time was the identity of the villain doubtful to a point where I almost thought it HAD to be someone else, but no, it was the obvious choice. The selection for casting was an interesting one, but that lent to the transparency of the big reveal. The ending creeps up for a lightning fast resolution and felt anticlimactic since again, the whole course of events was anticipated.

"Stolen" isn't as dramatic of a thriller who-dun-it as it could have been, but anyone who is a fan of these types of child victim/kidnapping stories for the heart-wrenching factor might still enjoy this, especially if you are a fan of "Mad Men."

Bonus Features:

There is a trailer and a making of featurette where cast members Jon Hamm, Josh Lucas, James Van Der Beek, and Rhona Mitra as well as the young actor who plays John Wakefield, Jimmy Bennett. They talk about the challenging emotions and themes the story puts upon them and how the who-dun-it mystery unfolds and is pretty average as far as making-of's go.

This independent movie stars some pretty big name actors, Josh Lucas, Jon Hamm, Rhona Mitra, & James Van der Beek to name a few. Be forewarned though, this story of abducted and missing children is very, very grim. The acting is quite good, and the technique of telling this story, switching back & forth between two time lines, is done decently. The movie is a bit slow as others have commented, but given the subject matter, this only adds to the sense of terror and despair. This movie relates to a narrow range of people who have had these horrifying kinds of experiences thrust upon them. For the rest of us, it is nothing short of our worst fear as parents, and this film will leave most of us greatly disturbed. Two stars for the acting and directing, but the subject of the film was too overwhelming for me. I had to put on a kinder, more upbeat movie right away. Note that in a few of the extra features, several of the actors tried hard to put a brighter spin on this movie, feeling that there was some hope and a bit of redemption, but I definitely didn't see it!

A gripping story that unwinds slowly and movingly. Jon Hamm is a father wracked with grief over the disappearance of his young son. His grief becomes all the more acute when the body of another boy who died 50 years earlier is found in the town where he is a police officer. The movie flashes back and forth between the past and the present as the cases unfold with subtle clues and much emotion. Wonderfully acted and filmed. Highly recommended and so great to see Jon Hamm stretch his range.

Impressive performances from Josh Lucas and Jon Hamm and very strong support performances from Morena Baccarin and Rhona Mitra, this film keeps you wanting more.

This was a good idea. A detective's son is kidnapped and after 8 years another boy's body shows up at a construction site. The problem is this boy's been dead for 50 years. But the detective sees similarities in the two cases so he's all over it. The movie then volleys between the story of the old murder and the detective's investigation of his own son's case.

This is an intriguing premise on the surface but it doesn't come off. The movie is a slow ride and some of the plot elements, such as Josh Lucas' hooking up with a married woman with a violent husband, just don't make sense. Then there's the climax. This is the scene where everything is supposed to come together and it falls flat. This is a poorly written scene containing some skewed logic and it felt lousy that I had to sit through this slowness to get to this scene and be fed this garbage.

The acting is decent though nobody is really straining their milk. The production values, music, etc. are all decent. This fails at the script level. I gave it 3 stars but it could easily slide back to 2 and a half. If you think you want to see a movie like this try reaching for Gone Baby Gone. It's much better.

STOLEN is a small budget film that deals with a major problem - loss of a child by abduction and the desperate need to find that child despite the passage of many years. Writer Glenn Taranto and Director Anders Anderson present two cases of kidnapping and murder, space them fifty years apart and interconnect the two stories in a way that is both disturbing psychologically and confusing as a film. It works on many levels and the absence of information about motivation interferes with allowing this movie to be more powerful.

Ten years ago police officer Tom Adkins, Sr (Jon Hamm) left his only son Tom Jr. in a diner for a moment, only to return and find him missing. His abilities as a law enforcement officer and his guilt as a 'negligent' father erodes his life and his marriage to Barbara (Rhona Mitra): he is unable to give up the search for his missing son despite the ten years of absence, a factor that practically drives his marriage to divorce. A body is found in a box and Tom Sr immediately thinks it is his son, but investigation reveals that it is the body of a child that has been dead for fifty years. The film then begins a series of flashbacks to a story fifty years ago when a young father Matthew Wakefield (Josh Lucas), having lost all of his money and home and facing the resultant suicide of his wife decides he must place his three children with relatives: one son, John (Jimmy Bennett), is mentally challenged, and Matthew's relatives will only take the two 'normal' boys, leaving John to live with his unemployed father. Matthew finds a room for the two of them and begins works at a construction site, John tags along to be with his dad - a problem for the boss of the construction site. Matthew forms friends with Diploma (James Van Der Beek) and Swede (Holt McCallany), is diverted by a sexual liaison, and during that time John is abducted. We lose track of Matthew at this point, but jumping back to the present the discovered boy's body proves to be John Wakefield and this discovery consumes Tom Sr to uncover the murderer of the Wakefield boy, hoping that in some way it ties in with the disappearance of his own son. The plot becomes a bit murky at this point and a bit to 'rush to climax', but needless to say the murders are connected and Tom Sr and his wife are able to come to grips with the fact that Tom Jr is lost forever.

The film is shot in a a somewhat sepia color when dealing with the murder of fifty years ago and remains dusty appearing through the present - not unlike the soil that has hidden the uncovered truths so well. The acting is fine, with some very fine cameo appearances by Johanna Cassidy as Tom Sr.'s mother and Jessica Chastain and Rose Montgomery as the feminine influences. The makeup artists have done the film a disservice as they try to age people fifty years as the film winds down: to say more would be to give away the ending. But the reason the film works is the commitment behind relating these tragedies on the part of all concerned. It is especially noteworthy in that it is the work of a relatively inexperienced writer and director. Grady Harp, June 10