Sophia Tabet’s debut film Stone Cold Fox is a slick action thriller starring Kiernan Shipka, Krysten Ritter, and Kiefer Sutherland. Tabet, who is known for directing shorts, makes a confident first feature that has a clear sense of style and stays engaging throughout. Even with a fairly basic plot driven by Shipka’s rage and conviction to get her sister back, the film leans heavily on performance, with bits of mild comedy sprinkled in.
I have a soft corner for revenge tales, especially when they come wrapped in feminine rage that explodes through kicks and punches, and you know it is going to be fun. While Stone Cold Fox does lose some spark in the middle, especially in scenes meant to connect the characters, it still manages to make you laugh and keeps you hooked with action sequences that land hard and loud, often in a very over the top, stylised way. The nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando makes it clear where this film is coming from, and Shipka taking on a role that requires her to do most of the heavy lifting feels like a bold and fitting choice.
Shipka is especially strong here, with a focused gaze and confidence that recall her recent work in Totally Killer. Stone Cold Fox is enjoyable for what it is, and it works best when you do not look for deeper meaning. It is not trying to be a serious action film, and that self awareness ends up working in its favour.
In this article, I dive deep into the plot summary, explaining what happens to Fox, how she finds herself stuck with Goldie, and whether she is able to free herself from the constant battle of guilt and sadness that follows her into a new chapter of her life. Please be aware that this article contains spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.
Stone Cold Fox (2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Fox (Kiernan Shipka) left home after struggling to keep up with her alcoholic mother. Even though her heart broke to leave her young sister, Spooky, behind, choosing life had become a means of survival. This is when she meets Goldie (Krysten Ritter), a confident drug peddler who helps young people like Fox, who are alone and vulnerable, get back on their feet in exchange for illegal errands. The group includes Crystal (Gabrielle Maiden), Minx (Karen Fukuhara), Ricky (Spenser Granese), and Domino (Rob Mars). In the beginning, everything felt alive to Fox, but then Goldie’s overbearing and controlling nature hit her hard, making her a prisoner of Goldie’s brutal, toxic nature.
Meanwhile, we also meet Goldie’s other accomplice in the police force, Sergeant Billy Breaker (Kiefer Sutherland), who raids transports that deliver drugs after receiving tips from her. However, Billy gets spotted when a new officer, Corbett (Jamie Chung), gets posted at his station. She has her doubts about him in their initial meeting, especially when Billy shoots a young boy, claiming it to be a defence shoot-out in a drug suspicion case.
Seeing Goldie never really providing for the group beyond her business deals, Fox realises she is better than this facade. Thinking of her sister often also makes her want to break free, but doing so would only cause Goldie to unleash her rage on Fox, which sometimes includes physical violence. After learning there is another business opportunity right under her wings, Goldie drugs the girls (Fox, Crystal, and Minx) and proceeds to meet Billy along with her sidekicks, Ricky and Domino. Billy wants to take a larger percentage this time, as he wishes to retire for good and has been quite useful in bringing more business to Goldie. Even though she despises the idea, Goldie eventually agrees and asks one of the boys to stash the bag that Billy had brought to her.
What does Corbett learns about Billy?
Consequently, while the girls are tripping hard on drugs, Fox has an awful nightmare that prompts her to wake up screaming her sister’s name. She eavesdrops on Goldie’s meeting, and seeing the bag makes her realise this could be her getaway from the chaos. She follows Ricky, who leaves after stashing the bag in a makeshift tunnel in the ground, and Fox steals the bag after he leaves, making a run from the place.
Hitchhiking back to her place, she realises someone else now lives in what was once her home. She runs again with the bag, only to soon realise that the bag full of cash is actually filled with freshly delivered cocaine. Scared, disappointed, and frustrated, she goes to her favourite bowling arena, where she used to hang out with her sister, and somehow manages to stash it in one of the lockers after tipping off the worker there with some cocaine.
To Goldie’s worst nightmare, she learns that Fox has run away with her treasure and reports the situation to Billy. At the same time, Corbett also becomes interested in Billy’s cases because, as per his assistant Pam (Julia Roth), he has been mostly successful in closing cases related to drugs and substances. When Corbett finds Fox’s picture on the photocopier machine, she starts to dig deeper and even asks Pam to look into it. Meanwhile, Goldie sends Ricky and Domino to find the missing girl. At the same time, Fox gets hit by a car when she runs after a vehicle with a girl screaming for help, thinking it is her sister.
How does Fox decide to fight back against Goldie and Billy?
After a really bad hit on her head, Fox wakes up at a random house where she meets the highly energetic Frankie (Mishel Prada), who was once an on duty doctor in a war zone but, after getting injured, has not been her best self lately. The two quickly bond, and we learn that Frankie, along with her cousin Dylan (Adam Elshar), has been training intensely for real life situations where they might need to act like Arnold from The Terminator or Sylvester from Rambo. Frankie and Dylan help Fox with combat training, almost like Cobra Kai, to fight Goldie and her shenanigans in order to save her sister, Spooky.
On the other hand, after receiving a call about a missing girl, Corbett starts her own investigation, which leads her to the same place where she finds Billy putting up Fox’s missing poster everywhere. The two team up for their own reasons, Corbett to dig deeper into how Billy is handling the investigation, and Billy to find Fox, which could finally end the chaos he is trapped in as Goldie blackmails him. The two officers end up questioning Frankie and Dylan at their place, where, unfortunately, Fox is also hiding.
Learning that Goldie and the police officers are on her case, Fox decides to head back to Goldie’s place to find her sister, using the bag full of cocaine as a negotiating tactic. Elsewhere, Corbett learns that Billy has been an accomplice to Goldie and has been involved in drug smuggling with her for a long time. Billy also finds out that Corbett now knows everything, so he bags up the cash he has saved from his deals with Goldie and heads to the stash house where the gang usually squares up.
Stone Cold Fox (2025) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Fox able to save her sister from Goldie’s controlling grip?
While Fox sneaks inside the house to get the girls, Crystal and Minx, to a safe place, Dylan creates a distraction out front by dealing with Ricky and Domino. The house soon turns into chaos when Goldie’s sidekicks realise the actual plan. Meanwhile, Fox gets busted by Billy, who tries to take the locker key that hides the cocaine bag. However, before Billy can get away, Corbett arrests him for all the wrongdoings he has been part of. Fox manages to get to Goldie and finds a girl next to her.
She soon realises that the girl is not her sister, Spooky. In fact, due to unfortunate events in the past, when Spooky tried to save their alcoholic mother from drowning in the bath, she accidentally slipped and hit her head on the wet floor, killing her instantly. Fox, whose real name is Isabel, has a vague memory of her sister’s and mother’s deaths, which comes crashing down on her. Goldie uses this vulnerable moment to her advantage. However, Fox has always known that Goldie never treats anyone with empathy and is selfish, so she strikes her with the star blade that Dylan had made for combat. Goldie dies immediately, leading Fox to finally break free from the prolonged caging of guilt, pain, and toxicity in her life.
Stone Cold Fox (2025) ends with Fox, or Isabel, getting her locker key back from Corbett, who claims she has nothing to do with the case or Billy whatsoever. The final sequence shows Fox quietly running her own drug cartel operation with Goldie’s former partner, while Frankie and the rest of the group help her run the bowling arena that was once Fox’s favourite place.
