Parents' Guide to The Isolate Thief

This Civil War-era Western, which is centered around two smart women, unfortunately gets a bit stale in the final stretch, but until then it's a gripping cat-and-mouse story. In The Isolate Thief, Foy (a child actor in the Twilight and Conjuring movies) excels in her first adult role as the cunning, steely Ada Horn. When viewers first see Ada, she tries to shoot a hungry wolf with her father's old-timey musket, but it misfires and leaves her unconscious. She wakes up, goes back inside, calmly reads a medical book, cleans and dresses her own wound, and finishes with a gulp of whiskey (recommended by the medical book). She's always thinking, even planning ahead. (She addresses the portraits of her late parents, informing them of her plans.)

Rush's Emily is Ada's opposite, a young woman whose wisdom comes from bitter experience and hard luck. Happily, the villains are just as clever. Bean's "Fiddler" knows when to show kindness and warmth and when to exert pressure. He even confesses at one point that he admires—and has grown fond of—Ada's "sass." It's too bad, then, that the movie turns into a fairly typical shoot-out at the end, which hardly seems worthy of such shrewd characters. Otherwise, director John Suits keeps up a tidy pace and makes fine use of the chilled, harsh locations and weather, ensuring that The Isolate Thief is worth a watch for horse opera fans.