90 minutes of my life Stolen

Stolen (2012) is directed by Simon West who also shot this year's The Expendables 2 which proves a film-maker should not concentrate on two action projects annually. Written by David Guggenheim who wrote the super-hit Safe House earlier this year shows that he only retained his dialogue delivery in the script. Nicolas Cage stars as an ex-thief who's just gotten out of jail to find his daughter kidnapped and shoved inside a taxi's trunk. 

  The plot is reminiscent of 2008's Taken without Liam Neeson's charisma or perfect plot-pacing. This was less than half of the film that Taken was. The only thing it succeeded in was with the similarly-themed title. Stolen does have its good points: Action cinematography is decent although I sincerely doubt that a robber who deals in bank theft has so much combat experience. Dialogues are hilarious and cynical, with fun exchanges between the main FBI officers. Josh Lucas acted top notch outshining all the other who couldn't shine anyhow:

  However, these are only distractions. Stolen has a mediocre plot. The follow-through after the kidnapping is weak. The opening scenes promise much but the later running time disappoints badly. West directed this feature well but the mediocre screenwriting flawed it all. Predictability is just another word for Stolen.

  Unless you have nothing else to die or are a die-hard fan of Cage, you can bare to watch this. The box office revenue was so bad it was shipped out of US theatres after just a couple of weeks. That's what happens when a film makes just a petty $304,318 off $35m. The film co-stars Malin Akerman and Danny Huston.

  Cage hasn't had great role since 2009's Knowing. This is 2nd worst film after The Wicker Man. And only the possible National Treasure 3 or the confirmed The Expendables 3 can save his career. Simon West created box office genius with 1997's Con Air comprising of Cage but did the complete opposite with this one.