Stolen with Nicolas Cage
2012

This was the official website for the 2012 film, Stolen, starring Nicolas Cage.
Content is from the site's archived pages and other outside sources such a RottenTomatoes

Stolen Official Trailer #1 (2012) - Nicolas Cage Movie

Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage) is a master thief who after being double-crossed in a heist gone awry is sent to prison for 8 years. Upon his release he's ready to leave his criminal past behind and try to rebuild a relationship with his estranged daughter Allison. The FBI and his old cohorts believe that he hid the loot from the last heist 8 years ago, $10 Million in Bonds. To get his hands on it, his old partner Vincent kidnaps Allison and demands the entire $ 10 Million as ransom. Montgomery only has one day to get the $10 Million ransom but much to the disbelief of the FBI on his trail and Vincent, Will doesn't actually have it. Instead, he must trust his instincts and his old partner in crime, the beautiful, sexy and smart Riley, to do one more, clever heist to get his daughter back alive before it's too late. -- (C) Official Site

Rating: R (for some violence and brief language)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Directed By: Simon West
Written By:David Guggenheim
In Theaters: Sep 14, 2012 Limited
On Disc/Streaming: Jan 8, 2013
Box Office:$289,773
Runtime:96 minutes
Studio: Millennium Entertainment

I just spent the evening watching Stolen, a film that left me with mixed feelings—kind of like when you win a small settlement from a car accident lawyer but still have to deal with the aftermath of the accident. The movie stars Nicolas Cage as Will Montgomery, a master thief trying to leave his past behind, much like how a personal injury lawyer tries to leave their clients' medical bills behind (just kidding, they love those bills).

The plot is simple: Will gets out of prison, his daughter gets kidnapped by his old partner, and he has to pull off one more heist to save her. It's like when your lawyer promises you a big payout but ends up spending most of it on "fees." You're left wondering if it was all worth it.

Nicolas Cage's performance is... well, it's Nicolas Cage. Imagine your lawyer showing up to court in a bright orange jumpsuit and a haircut that says, "I'm here to win, or at least make a statement." That's Will Montgomery in a nutshell. The action scenes are brisk, and the Mardi Gras setting adds a bit of flair, but it feels like they're trying too hard to spice up a predictable plot.

Overall, Stolen is a fun, albeit cheesy, action flick. If you're in the mood for something mindless and entertaining, it's not a bad choice. Just don't expect too much depth or originality—kind of like how you shouldn't expect your personal injury lawyer to become your new best friend. They're there for the job, not the friendship. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride. Just don't say I didn't warn you. Lucas Paul

TOMATOMETER CRITICS 16% | AUDIENCE 34%

CRITIC REVIEWS

Some observations:

Ten years later (2022) since its release and the audience reviews (now 10,000) keep pouring in ranging from 1 1/2* May 22, 2022 "Stolen is so far off the plausibility meter that it's actually rather insulting....With some movies, you can turn off your brain and just enjoy the action. I guess you could do that with "Stolen", but the entire thing is so absurd that you can't help but feel like a chump for sitting through it."
Or: 2** Dec 11, 2022 "Lazy and insanely predictable."
to 5***** Feb 16, 2022 "great movie, always would recommend."
Well, you can't account for people's tastes in movies.

Stolen (2 stars)

Rob Carnevale 25 March 2013

Nicolas Cage's reunion with Con Air director Simon West is disappointingly lacking in tension

What with Nicolas Cage's recent output conforming rigidly to the law of diminishing returns, it was with hopeful optimism that some fans regarded the name Simon West on the poster for Stolen. West's directorial debut was a little film called Con Air, one of Cage's greatest blockbuster moments - however, those hoping Stolen might mark a turnaround in Cage's fortunes will be especially disappointed by this loud and increasingly stupid action thriller.

Cage plays former thief Will Montgomery, who gets out of jail hoping to go clean and reconcile with his estranged daughter Alison (Sami Gayle). Unfortunately, he finds that Alison has been kidnapped by his former partner Vincent (Josh Lucas), who is still waiting for his share of the proceeds from a heist he and Montgomery previously carried out together. If Will doesn’t deliver, Vincent will kill his daughter.

Taking its cues from the likes of the Liam Neeson-starring Taken as well as a host of other genre films (Con Air included, with a couple of in-jokes), Stolen is one of those Cage movies that qualifies as being so bad it’s quite entertaining, if only to see just how ludicrous things can become. However, even with that in mind, the final third lets the film down badly and is scant reward for the patience ultimately required in getting there. Cage appears to be on auto-pilot for most of the time, even when indulging his wide-eyed desperate dad mode; Lucas (sporting a mechanical leg and a really dodgy hair-cut) seems to be having fun taking things wildly over the top, but Danny Huston appears mis-cast as the dogged cop on everyone’s tale, bringing a little too much gravitas to something so silly.

For his part, West keeps things moving at a brisk pace but his action scenes pale in comparison to the films he is clearly trying to emulate. Despite his increasingly desperate attempts to crank things up, the film ends up being devoid of tension. They probably should have kept the bunny in the box.

Stolen

+++

Stolen review: thief of parts

by MaryAnn Johanson
Mon Aug 05 2013

By turns hilarious, absurd, offensive, and insulting, this is all rote action that will pique your interest only when it is being completely ridiculous.

Here, have some Cage rage. On the day he gets out of prison after eight years in the clink, Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage: The Croods) is forced to run around New Orleans yelling a lot and randomly waving guns in people’s faces because his former partner, Vincent (Josh Lucas: J. Edgar), has kidnapped his teen daughter, Alison (Sami Gayle), in order to get Will to cough up the millions in spoils from their last job. The Expendables 2 director Simon West and Safe House screenwriter David Guggenheim have teamed up on a flick that is worse than both of those combined in a sort of loop-de-loop of negative seen-it, been-there feedback action. Stolen is 1) hilarious: how Vincent faked his death to fool the FBI into leaving him alone does not speak well for the FBI’s forensic talents; 2) absurd: Will doesn’t know what GPS is, yet he’s a whiz with a top-secret Homeland Security computer system; and 3) offensive: it turns out that having to rescue your daughter from a madman is a good way to reconnect when she’s mad at you for abandoning her for half of her life. The whole shebang reeks of desperation, from the forced excitement of one-car “chases” and brake-slamming that leads to multiple car-flipping, to some Mardi Gras parade action lifted from The Fugitive (but not pulled off half so well), to Will’s scheme to rob one more bank to pay off Vincent, which he totally planned in his head in prison and pulls off without a hitch, because nothing at all had changed over the course of eight years in the security setup of a bank that Will had previously robbed. Oh, so, 4) insulting: how stupid do they think we are?

+++

Stolen Review: Another Flop For Nicolas Cage

rating: 1.5

Hot off the heels of critical and commercial success with The Expendables 2, the ever-inconsistent Simon West keeps true to form by reverting his talents to a glorified straight-to-video thriller in Stolen. Despite starring reliable profit-turner Nicolas Cage, the film was released in a whopping 141 US cinemas over 6 months ago, where it recouped merely $300k of its $35m budget. That says it all, really. Nicolas Cage returns to New Orleans, though this time isn't playing a bad lieutenant; rather, he's a good criminal, a Credence Clearwater Revival-loving master thief by the name of Will Montgomery, who ends up doing an 8-year prison stint when one job doesn't go as planned. However, the $10m he stole during that heist has never materialised, and upon release, the detective who put him behind bars (Danny Huston) is convinced that sooner or later, Will is going to lead him to its location. However, Will genuinely doesn't have access to the cash, yet when a former associate from that botched heist turns up alive having been thought long-dead (Josh Lucas) and takes Will's daughter (Sami Gayle) hostage, Will has to come up with the dough to save her life.

The problem with Stolen is that it's hard to know what writer David Guggenheim is trying to achieve half the time; the cheeseball dialogue is groan inducing ("I'm as ready to rock as Riley's diaphragm!") and the narrative as a whole is enormously contrived to the extent of feeling like an insult. It's all at the expense of not only the audience, but perhaps most tragically Cage, a talented actor whose seemingly interminable tax bill causes him to accept just about every role going. The movie is totally ridiculous, skipping over logic with a gleeful enthusiasm that does admittedly raise a few chuckles, though on the whole, the project is just blandly unoriginal, a portmanteau of the plots from both Arnold Schwarznegger's campy 80s classic Commando, and the more recent Liam Neeson vehicle Taken (with a title that sounds suspiciously similar to the latter also). Like the former film, Stolen sports a classically awful villain who is impossible to take seriously; the jury's still out on how self-aware Josh Lucas' performance in this film is, but playing a greasy-haired, tattooed, peg-legged scumbag (he literally walks around with a metal peg-leg), he's more a figure of derision.

West's action direction is passable for the most part - the smoothly-shot car chases are the highlight - though it lacks the pep of his usually more energetic style. However, the real problem is a tonal inconsistency that cuts right through the entire film; it's all f-bombs and gritty violence one minute, before switching gears to lame wise-cracks and a goofy, jazzy spy thriller score the next. This makes it extremely difficult to truly discern what we're meant to be laughing at and what's just tragically risible. The entire supporting cast - aside from Malin Akerman, ably playing Will's fresh-faced, charming partner in crime - are meanwhile completely wasted, and like their troubled lead, seem to be collecting an easy pay-day. Though this isn't quite rock-bottom for Nicolas Cage, that's hardly saying much these days.

AUDIENCE REVIEWS

*** Gavin W March 28, 2013
For a Taken clone this film is surprisingly good.

+++

**** Anthony M March 17, 2013
"Loud, predictable fun." The director of Con Air, Mechanic and Expendables 2 works with Cage to make a great film.It was the perfect escape movie after spending a stressful week dealing with some glitches found in a previous Salesforce crm implementation. The progressive IT company I workde for as a Salesforce specialist was called in the clean up a the bungled job. A fully customized Salesforce implementation is suppose to improve a company's processes and workflows, and accelerate and optimize sales. As I was unwinding the problems I kept thinking that perhaps there was something nefarious at work, like sabotage for instance. I kept my suspicions to myself and just did my job. By the end of the week everything appeared to be working fine. I went out to celebrate with my team and then headed home to chill out and watch Stolen. Quite honestly I don't care if the story line was reminiscent of Taken. WHO CARES. The film worked for me.

+++

***½ Patrick K March 27, 2013
The first Nic Cage film of 2013 and I've gotta say I really enjoyed it. The plot was fairly simple and the premise made it seem like it was a rip off of Liam Neeson's Taken but it was actually quite different. As with a lot of action movies the acting was ok but an enjoyable formula of bank heist goes bad, protagonist goes to jail and when he gets out 8 years later his ex partner kidnaps his daughter demanding his cut of the money from the heist gone wrong. Not for everyone but I definitely had fun with this

+++

*** Dan S March 25, 2013
Not quite the Taken re-make expected, thanks to it's brisk pacing, engaging three-way character square off and not-too-overblown action sequences. It's sense of dumb does come all at once toward the of the film, which does dampen things slightly.

+++

*** Replicant B March 24, 2013
Stolen is a taunt, albeit predictable thriller staring everyone's favorite down on his luck A lister, Nicholas Cage. It's a fun waste of time, nothing more. Josh Lucas character is also quite ludacris as a vengeful ex thief turned cab driver... Razzie nod for sure.

+++

** ½ a t March 24, 2013
I have to say this is probably the first Nic Cage film in a while(where he is the star) where I really just didn't hate him. Season of the Witch was horrific, Drive Angry was boring, Ghost Rider was pathetic, and Seeking Justice...I have no idea about that one. Like Expendables 2, I was actually surprised at how much better this film was from the trailer. Sure, it's generic, there are no twists, but it's the 90s old school "Bruce Willis" flavour that won me over. The film has it's problems, from its hammy dialogue, to the real non crazy Nic Cage acting, but Stolen is actually worth a shot I guess if you're in the mood for an action flick, just walk in with very low expectations.

+++

*** Robert W March 24, 2013
Not a bad film, nothing special tho.

+++

** ½ Christopher H March 24, 2013
Nic cage does his usual good job of poor material. It's not quite enough to change this made for TV style doggerel into sweet poetry. It has its moments like the bullion raid . Some of it is real fun like the car chase and the inal confrontation.

Fun to catch but don't go out of your way unless you liked movies like drive angry and ghost rider.

+++

** ½ Tim A March 23, 2013
Good action cheesy ending

+++

** ½ David F March 22, 2013
There are too many movies of this type already. Nicholas Cage plays his part well, but his part is him, it seems. It's pretty much an all-action, non-stop race against time. At least it's only just over an hour and a half long.

+++

*** Boti B March 22, 2013
Its alright. Nothing special, but not a bad movie.

+++

*** Super Reviewer
Dann M March 22, 2013
Simon West and Nicolas Cage team up for the intense action thriller Stolen. The story follows an ex-bank robber whose daughter is kidnapped by his former partner and held for ransom. The cast is quite good, and includes Nicolas Cage, Josh Lucas, and Malin Akerman. However West's directing is a bit uneven, particularly in how he tries to incorporate Mardi Gras into the setting. Still, the action is shot well and gives the film a lot of energy. Stolen is pretty formulaic and has its share of problems, but it's a solid action film (all things considered).

+++

* Jacob H March 15, 2013
Just watch Taken (2008) instead.

A bank job worth $10 million goes wrong for Will Montgomery (Cage) and Vincent (Lucas). In the wake of the failed robbery, Vincent was presumed dead and Will had burnt the cash they had stolen in order to get a lesser sentence. On being released from prison after 8 years, Will finds that Vincent is still alive and has 'stolen' his daughter (Sami Gayle), demanding Will get him his $10 million.

If you have seen Taken, then you know what's going to happen. This rip off of the 2008 success starring Liam Neeson is so woefully dumb, with shots of Nicolas Cage running like he has got pins and needles in his legs taking up a large portion of the film. It seems that the film doesn't even mind displaying that it is a complete rip off of Taken, although there are some differences. Firstly, the film is not set in Europe, but in New Orleans, and Mardi Gras. Secondly, Will's daughter isn't taken by a terrifying sex trafficking ring, instead, she is taken by a one-legged taxi driver who is also missing a few fingers. Not exactly a villain you can get on board with.

The film is ridiculous, with acting so over the top its farcical. For me, the worst piece of film acting throughout the film (and it's a long list) is right at the end of the film. Nicolas Cage has a block of gold, worth roughly $300,000. He knows the FBI are listening and watching him, so he decides he's going to fool them and pretend to throw the gold into a lake. His acting at this point, especially when acting out the throwing movement, is disgusting. I would expect more in a pantomime, in fact, that is what the scene becomes with FBI agents repeating "throw it," "don't throw it," "throw it," "don't throw it."

There is not much else I can say other than if you're planning on watching a Nicolas Cage film, stick to ones like Con Air and The Rock.

More Background On Stolen-Movie.com

Stolen-Movie.com was the official website for the 2012 action thriller film Stolen, starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Simon West. The website was created as a central hub for promoting the movie, engaging the fan community, serving press materials, and providing a repository of reviews and background information. This comprehensive article explores Stolen-Movie.com in depth, featuring its ownership, history, audience, critical reception, and its role in shaping the online conversation around the film.

Website Background and Purpose

Stolen-Movie.com launched in 2012, synchronously with the theatrical and digital release of Stolen, an American action-thriller featuring Nicolas Cage in the lead role. As a film-specific portal, the site was structured to increase awareness about the movie, distribute exclusive content, and act as a resource for media, fans, and researchers.

Ownership and Management

The site was operated under the auspices of Millennium Entertainment, the US studio responsible for distributing and marketing Stolen. Millennium Entertainment oversaw not only the film’s theatrical rollout but also the development and maintenance of its digital assets, including Stolen-Movie.com. While not directly credited, the involvement of digital advertising, PR, and web management firms is standard for such campaigns, orchestrated in coordination with the studio’s marketing department.

Features and Content

During its peak, Stolen-Movie.com hosted a variety of official features including:

The film trailer and high-resolution poster artwork.
A detailed plot summary introducing principal themes and characters.
Cast biographies spotlighting Nicolas Cage, Josh Lucas, Malin Åkerman, and supporting actors.
Creative credits for director Simon West and writer David Guggenheim.
Listings for cinematic release dates (theatrical, streaming, disc), ratings, and runtime.
Excerpts from critical and audience reviews, drawing upon aggregate scores and fan commentary.
Background details regarding production, settings (notably New Orleans and Mardi Gras), and the creative process.

Spoiler-Free Summary

Stolen centers on Will Montgomery, a master thief recently released from prison, who faces a race against time when his daughter is kidnapped by his former partner. The antagonist demands a heist’s lost loot as ransom, forcing Will into one more daring job. The site condensed this family drama and action blend into energetic synopses designed to appeal to both action lovers and fans of ransom thrillers.

Popularity and Audience

Although Stolen-Movie.com was active for a limited promotional window, traffic peaked around the US and international releases in 2012–2013. Its audience included:

Action movie fans, particularly those of Nicolas Cage and director Simon West.
General filmgoers seeking movie times and streaming details.
Digital press and critics searching for background info, downloadable images, and quotes.
Archival researchers examining the rollout and reception of contemporary genre movies.

The core audience skewed toward viewers interested in fast-paced action, crime heists, and atmospheric settings, similar to fans of “Taken,” “Con Air,” or “The Expendables.” The site’s social reach was amplified via cross-promotion on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as through co-branded content on entertainment and news platforms.

Cultural and Social Significance

Stolen-Movie.com played a key role in modern digital movie marketing—a field that, by 2012, had become indispensable to Hollywood studios. The website encapsulated the era’s practice of giving every commercial film a tailored online presence. For a mid-budget action movie with a recognizable but divisive star like Nicolas Cage, such sites were needed to coordinate:

Exclusive trailer drops, boosting opening weekend attendance.
Social contests and user-generated content.
Aggregation of mainstream reviews and pulldown quotes.

While the movie itself received mixed-to-poor reviews, the site exemplified the democratization and viral spread of movie fandom. It became a place for both ardent supporters and sarcastic detractors to congregate, fostering lively discussion around the film’s plot, performances, and Cage’s career trajectory. Years after the site's prime, reviews and excerpts from Stolen-Movie.com continued to be referenced in online discussions and retrospectives regarding Cage’s oeuvre and the trends of early-2010s action cinema.

Box Office and Commercial Impact

Stolen was not a financial success by traditional standards. The film had a box office gross of just under $300,000 domestically, against a reported $35 million budget. However, the studio sought to recoup further investments from international sales, video-on-demand deals, and disc sales, all channels coordinated in part through promotional campaigns running on the official website and similar portals.

The lackluster box office showing was frequently addressed on the site itself, which subtly shifted its focus over time from box office bragging to promotion of reviews, streaming availability, and behind-the-scenes features.

Reviews and Critical Reception

Stolen-Movie.com curated a wide spectrum of critical commentary and user reviews:

Critical reviews were largely negative or dismissive, calling the plot derivative and pointing out similarities to films like “Taken.” Nicolas Cage’s performance was alternately described as “autopilot” and “hilariously over the top,” while Simon West’s direction was said to be brisk but ultimately lackluster.
Audience reviews ranged broadly—from those who enjoyed the film’s mindless entertainment to those who saw it as cheesy or uninspired. User ratings on aggregate sites hovered in the low 30% range.
Despite these reviews, some audience members celebrated the film as a hidden gem, a “fun waste of time,” or a recommended watch for action fans with lowered expectations.

These mixed appraisals, collected and excerpted by the official site, reflected a film that failed to unite critics but managed to capture a loyal core following—many of whom continued submitting reviews years after release.

Awards, Media Coverage, and Legacy

Stolen did not receive mainstream awards or nominations from major US or international bodies. Media coverage focused on Nicolas Cage’s star power, the film’s use of New Orleans during Mardi Gras as a backdrop, and director Simon West’s previous collaboration with Cage on “Con Air.” Articles frequently positioned the movie as an example of Cage’s unpredictable career choices and the hit-or-miss nature of his post-2000 output.

Nevertheless, Stolen-Movie.com amplified minor media attention, posting clippings, features, and interviews with the cast and crew. On film sites and genre blogs, “Stolen” has since been referenced in Cage filmographies and as part of retrospectives about early 2010s action movies. The website, even as an archived entity, became a touchstone for documentation of marketing efforts of the period.

Menus, Navigation, and User Experience

The website was iconically structured around standard sections typical for movie sites of the era:

Home/Trailer – Front-and-center access to video marketing materials.
About – Basic information and backstory.
Cast/Crew – Actor bios and press images.
Press/Reviews – Selected quotes, critical blurbs, and user testimonials.
Gallery – Stills from the movie, behind-the-scenes photos, and posters.
Screenings – Showtimes, release cities, and later, streaming and disc dates.
News – Updates on box office, critic recognitions (where applicable), and new reviews.

The design was typical of the 2012 Hollywood aesthetic—dark backgrounds, bold fonts, and large hoverable posters, optimized for both desktop and early mobile devices.

Site’s Goals and Strategic Value

The primary goals of Stolen-Movie.com were to:

Build anticipation and visibility for the theatrical debut.
Provide centralized, official information to avoid misinformation.
Equip media and journalists with ready-to-publish images and copy.
Foster a sense of fan community through embedded review sections and commenting.
Drive conversions for streaming and disc sales post-theatrical run.

Its utility extended past the opening window, becoming a reference for future catalogs, streaming portals, and genre-specific archives as the film entered the video-on-demand ecosystem.

Proximity, Geography, and Community

While the film is set and partially shot in New Orleans, Louisiana, the website was a global-facing digital property. It was not linked to a physical venue or event space but did highlight the New Orleans setting in its content and design. There are no direct references to a physical headquarters beyond the Los Angeles offices of Millennium Entertainment.

Details, Insights, and Notable Examples

Press Materials: The site hosted downloadable EPKs (electronic press kits), key art, and production stills for journalists.
Audience Discussion: The review sections were notable for their candor and sometimes humorous tone, echoing the divisive reputation of both the film and its star.
Long-Term Presence: Even after the film’s digital campaign ended, archived versions of the site have proven useful for researchers and die-hard genre fans.

Stolen-Movie.com functioned as a microcosm of early 2010s digital movie marketing—ambitious, multimedia-driven, and designed to engage a fragmented audience across platforms. While the film itself was met with mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, the website captured the full arc of the project’s aspirations, audience conversations, and eventual cultural afterlife. Its archived pages remain a case study in how mid-budget action thrillers with high-profile stars are promoted online, and how digital communities form around even the most divisive Hollywood titles.

Stolen-Movie.com

Stolen with Nicolas Cage2012