The Stolen
(2016)Alice Eve (Star Trek: Into Darkness) is a widow searching for her kidnapped son in this Western set in 1860 New Zealand. Co-stars Stan Walker (Mt Zion) & Graham McTavish (Dwalin, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies).... More
In a wild, untamed New Zealand at the beginning of the Gold Rush, Charlotte Lockton (Eve) joins a convoy of whores, ex-cons and a Maori warrior heading for the rough mining community of Gold Town. There she meets Joshua McCullen, the owner of the town, a man who is key to uncovering the truth behind the disappearance of her son, forcing her to fight to the death for what she holds most dear.Hide
-
Directed by Niall Johnson ('Keeping Mum', 'The Big Swap', 'Mum's List')
Starring Alice Eve, Jack Davenport, Richard O'Brien, Stan Walker, Graham McTavish, Cohen Holloway, Glen Levy, Gillian MacGregor
Written by Emily Corcoran, Niall Johnson
Out Now (On-Demand,
DVD or Blu-Ray)
On Demand, DVD & Blu-Ray
Available from 3 providers
Flicks Review
The Peoples' Reviews
Reviewed & Rated by
Your rating & review
Rate / Review this movieRate and/or review
The Stolen
BY Pascale nobody
2 main characters are such bad actors, playing Joshua and Charlotte. They ruined my pleasure! The 3 working girls, the Inn manager, the Maori guide, all good, thank you! Still an educational must, for the sake of national history and landscape.
BY Flick nobody
I loved this movie for its story, its characters, and for its fabulous cinematography. If you want to see New Zealand's countryside at its most beautiful, along with a rip-roaring story about the earliest days of our country's gold rush, then The Stolen is for you, as it was for me. It's wonderful to see such local talent shining through, blended with two highly believable leads with some impressive international movies under their belt. Highly recommended.
BY FaithRen nobody
I am middle-aged but adore a great costume western thriller. The Stolen gave me this as well as an edgy young cast including the charismatic Stan Walker.
BY PoppyB nobody
Loved this movie, saw it at the premiere and it was awesome. Great story, great characters, all the acting was brilliant - go see it - much better on big screen as NZ landscapes look amazing
The Press Reviews
A western as inept as it is preposterous. Full Review
...it’s engaging and refreshing on several counts – not least the fact that it’s a female-focused western set in New Zealand. Full Review
Ends up feeling a little too episodic for its own good. Full Review
he Stolen tries hard and credit must be given to the noble attempt at creating a female lead with a strong presence in a male-dominated land. But ultimately you'll leave the theatre feeling that plenty more should have been made of its promising set-up. Full Review
BY Aaron Yap Flicks Writer
It’s a pretty good time to be a Western fan. While it may be premature to herald a renaissance, there has been a not-unsubstantial wave of interest, with films such as The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Bone Tomahawk and The Beguiled adding fresh, intriguing contours — be they thematic, stylistic or narrative — to a genre too frequently thought of as moribund and “old-fashioned”. The same sense of invigorating revisionism unfortunately can’t be applied to The Stolen, which is about as bland as Westerns come. Its biggest point of novelty, a 1860s colonial New Zealand setting, is barely examined in favour of a predictable, cliché-riddled yarn featuring grizzled ex-cons, plucky prostitutes, skeevy skirt-chasing gold miners, and Stan Walker nobly wielding a tomahawk.... More
Veteran cinematographer Alun Bollinger catches some alluring glimpses of the Canterbury locations, lending reasonable scope to an otherwise modestly budgeted project. But the invariably slick digital lensing robs the film of much-needed grittiness, diluting its portrait of settler hardships. As the chief protagonist — a determined, upper class English immigrant on the trail of her kidnapped son — Alice Eve’s performance is frustratingly uneven, always too histrionic by half and a few takes away from being good. Jack Davenport makes for a one-dimensional villain, his murkily devised motivations giving us little reason to get worked up over. Walker contributes a few quiet, dignified notes as an underused Māori warrior/tracker, but his ill-fitting closing piano ballad highlights The Stolen’s primary lack of vision. It’s like some stiff Masterpiece Theatre wannabe trying too hard to be an ass-kicking, feminist revenge thriller.Hide
Care to comment?