The Stolen - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Stolen

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
When one thinks of a western setting we usually think of the old American west, but there has always been a second place for the western genre with Australia. Films like Quigley Down Under, The Proposition, The Man from Snowy River, and countless others have used the down under local for a western backdrop and done quite well. So you would rightly assume that New Zealand isn’t a place for that type of thing, and you would normally be correct. I can’t name off the top of my head a single western movie based in New Zealand. That is until The Stolen came around. In all honesty, it makes perfect sense. New Zealand was colonized about the same time as Australia, and shares many of the same locational western backdrops that it’s bigger brother does, but for some reason I can’t remember there every been an attempt. But to be fair, The Stolen is less a traditional western, but a movie set in that time period about a woman doing whatever it takes to get her child back, and just so happens to have single action colt revolvers, wagons, and bar brothels along the way.

Charlotte Lockton (Alice Eve) is a prim and proper lady living with her husband David (Lukas Hinch) in good old wild New Zealand, where he has purchased a farm under the guise of riches and excitement. David tries teaching his ladylike wife the art of protecting herself with a firearm (something that plays into the movie’s end scene), but Charlotte is rather sluggish at picking up the basics, and sees no real need to pick up the hobby. She’s got everything she needs right here to protect her. A strong husband, a cadre of hired help, and a brand new baby boy to keep her occupied. However, her husband’s kindhearted attempt at hiring wayward men for labor backfires when two of hired help (in masks) break into their home, shoot David, grab the cash and run off with Charlotte’s baby boy as a hostage.

Desperately looking for her son, Charlotte sniffs around but can only come up with a general location after a mysterious letter shows up confirming that her son is alive. Gold City is the only area that seems to fit, so Charlotte pays off the rough and craggy track named Bully (Graham McTavish) to take her there, even if it means she has to break out of her prim and proper ways to do so. The trip is long, arduous and full of peril, but what lies ahead is even more perilous. When she gets to Gold City, Charlotte has no idea of who has her child, and the only way of making money to stay and look is to blend in with the rest of the brothel girls that she came along with and play their game until she discover the location of her missing babe.

The Stolen is one of the few western films lately that I just feel bad about giving a low score to. I love Alice Eve, and I ADORE westerns (I grew up watching everything from Clint Eastwood to Ernest Borgnine), but The Stolen is the perfect description of a movie that fails by playing things way too safe. The movie has some potential with Alice Eve’s character having to learn to deal with the non “prim and proper” side of the world. However, everything just plays out WAY too safe, and the lack of risk shows in the end result. I’m not saying that they should have made it a hard R rated film with tons of nudity and degradation, but trying to make the movie all dark and serious with a young woman in a brothel and making it almost PG rated comes across as disingenuous to what it is trying to accomplish. The same goes for the villain. Once we find out who he is (won’t spoil that surprise) everything played like a low budget soap opera, and the end conflict on the beach is devoid of tension and any sense of real potential loss.

I will fully admit that the local is simply beautiful. Shooting on location in New Zealand, and using extremely accurate garb made for a good looking film. Alice Eve is ok for the job at hand, but she comes across as neither overly weak, nor overly strong throughout the movie, and just kind of is lukewarm. Jack Davenport (e.g., Commodore Norrington from Pirates of the Caribbean) is largely wasted, and the only one who truly feels REAL and authentic is Graham McTavish’s “Bully” (who sadly leaves us way too quickly in the movie.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Digitally photographed, The Stolen doesn’t have that gritty, rough, look that most westerns do, but rather a clean and clearly shot look that belies the digital photography. The New Zealand countryside is smooth and glossy, with a rustic look to it that isn’t quite as grungy as western fans would like, but looks quite appealing from a visual standpoint. Facial details are well defined and the rustic countryside is adequately revealing to the naked eye. Blacks are inky and shadow details solid enough, with only minor banding in the darkness of the brothel (when Charlotte looks up to see where her son is being held is the most obvious one in that regards). An overall good looking transfer that has minimal flaws.






Audio:

On par with the video, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is impressive with good spaciousness, although rarely ever exceptional. The wide open countryside feels open and delightfully playful in the surround channels (there’s some nice use of it when girls are on the open road with Bully), and the LFE adds some nice weight to confrontations. The film is relatively mild for what it is, and tends to be rather lean in the bass until really called for. Then the sound of shotgun blasts and .44 caliber revolvers make their presence known. The dialog is clean and well defined, and there isn’t that many heavy accents in the film, despite being shot in new Zealand, where accents tend to be as thick and heavy as Australia. A good track, and well crafted.





Extras:

• The Stolen: Behind the Scenes

Final Score: ​

The Stolen breaks my heart to give a bad rap, but it is what it is. The movie plays things way too safe to be truly effective, and the movie delves into too many cliches to be really enjoyable. The location shoots, and trim storytelling is effective for what it is, but most of the time I spend watching was me staring at the clock wondering how much time the film had left before anything would happen. The half way point is pretty much the start of the “adventure”, and the last 40 minutes blurs together so quickly that one can’t really bond with anyone or anything. Universal’s Blu-ray is technically sound, with limited extras, but I would personally just skip the film unless you really really were intrigued by the trailer.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Alice Eve, Jack Davenport, Graham McTavish
Directed by: Niall Johnson
Written by: Emily Corcoran
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: NR
Runtime: 98 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 2nd, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

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[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will skip it based on your recommendation.