For a tv movie on lifetime this turned out to be half decent. It reminds me of a film from the eighties or nineties although by now the audience would probably be expecting a lot more from this type of movie. Still, the fact it's made for the tv somehow saves it. Tv movies tend to have a lower expectation in my view, if I was to make a comparison off the top of my head I would say, it's a story that closely resembles Taken. However, Taken has a lot bigger budget and could undoubtedly produce way better action with Liam Neeson tumbling enemies to the ground.
Yet, with a smaller budget often comes a more believable approach. This isn't to say Stolen from the Suburbs is without flaws. The story is intriguing enough and the situation the girls are put in means I can't help but root for them, yet it's the vacant roles that leave me somewhat astonished. Where is Courtney's (Tetona Jackson) parents or family? I can excuse some of the girls that have been captured a while as their family might've given up hope sometime ago, but seriously Courtney was taken in practically the same time as Emma (Sydney Sweeney). What I do like about this narrative is it explores very real life dangerous circumstances that can arise, existing in our world today and it highlights the need for young girls to be careful.
As far as acting goes it's the early signs that Sydney Sweeney has everything in her repertoire to become a good actress as the young lady convey distress well and a little feisty naivety early on. Another standout is the antagonist (Olivia d' Abo) as Milena, the viewer really gets a taste of the ruthless money grabbing cold hearted emotionless bitch she really is. I couldn't help but detest her every action, as well as admire the performance to have me respond in such a way in the first place. (Cynthia Watros) as Katherine and (Brooke Nevin) as Anna had a scene together in the car that could've had way more empathy from Cynthia as well as being the definitive moment yet it just felt flat and lacking emotion. Anna explains how she got into investigating sex trafficking as well as her background story, how she felt about helping the girls and why she was doing it. This moment lacked the intensity and didn't create the bond between the two woman I felt it set out to do. After this Anna was practically nowhere to be seen leaving Emma to pull the trigger in the climax amongst some cruel torturous scenes prior to this.
The acting from the villains throughout gave the film more interesting dramatic elements, it was almost as if all the men were under Milena's spell. I felt the humiliation for the young student girls left without dignity, without food and half naked. Overall the story was good and the lack of support from the police seemed feasible considering the vast amount that were going missing it often seemed like the police wouldn't bother leaving it to be the norm.
