ISOLATE THIEF, THE

(director: John Suits; screenwriter: Kevin Lefler; cinematographer: Will Stone; editor: Matthew Sterling; cast: Mackenzie Foy (Ada), Sean Bean (Fiddler John), Odeya Rush (Emily), Joe Pantoliano (Perry Parker), Jack Kesy (Red), Ty Simpkins (Calvin), Bryan Martin (Col. Hardwick), Martin Sensmeier (Ten Charley); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Shannon Houchins, Vince Jolivette, Travis Mann, Margaret Miller; Radial Entertainment; 2026)

“Atmospheric Civil War-era survival story.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
John Suits (“Breach”/”Pandemic”) directs and Kevin Lefler writes this atmospheric Civil War-era survival story set in the winter of 1865.

The young adult Ada (Mackenzie Foy) lives on a Union Army outpost in the rural West. Her deceased dad, Major-General James Horn, was a retired Army officer and Pinkerton man. Living alone and facing dire winter conditions and possible starvation, she plans to go to San Francisco and get a fresh start.

A young drifter, Perry Parker (Joe Pantoliano), comes to the outpost posing as a grave-robber. It turns out he’s the hostage of a violent group of outlaws posing as Union soldiers-Ty Simpkins (Calvin), Martin Sensmeier (Ten Charley) and Red (Jack Kesy)-who are searching for gold secretly kept in the outpost. They are led by the polite but sadistic psychopath Fiddler John (Sean Bean). In the surrounding woods Ada bumps into the traumatically injured Emily (Odeya Rush), who became a sex object to the outlaws.

The film offers nothing provocative, but is a tense and finely executed story about the heroine fighting back through her cunning to survive the evil men invading the outpost.

The cast does as much with the limited and grim story as it can, while Foy knows how to play a good person and Bean knows how to play a nasty one.

REVIEWED ON 7/14/2026  GRADE: B
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