TV Reviews : ‘Stop at Nothing’: A Question of Justice Over the Welfare of a Child

Is 8-year-old Kimberly at risk from her father, against whom accusations of child abuse were dismissed, or from her mother, who has a history of mental instability?

Strong performances give clout to “Stop at Nothing,” a new movie at 9 tonight on the Lifetime cable channel, about a struggle for justice and a girl’s welfare.

Outlaw activist Nettie Forbes (Veronica Hamel of “Hill Street Blues”) and Parrish (Lindsay Frost of “Mancuso: FBI”), an ex-cop turned bodyguard, are on opposite sides of the law, each convinced she must protect Kimberly from the other parent.

When Kimberly’s father (Joseph Hacker) is awarded sole custody, her mom (Annabella Price) turns to Forbes, part of an underground child-rescue network, to help her kidnap her daughter. Parrish, having failed in her assignment to guard Kimberly, coldly tracks the kidnapers, but gradual doubts about what’s really best for the little girl lead her to question her role as hunter.

Hamel, eschewing all glamour, embodies strength and purpose in her role as a woman who single-mindedly risks her own freedom to protect a child.

As both antagonists and potential allies, Frost and Hamel pack a powerful punch. With less screen time, Price makes an impressive third, forcefully conveying both fragility and determination to fight for her child.

There are problems: No one seems to notice when Forbes leaves her fingerprints all over a car, she’s released from prison with amazing ease and no acknowledgement is made that it will take more than a change of locale to give Kimberly a normal life. And who needs yet another car chase?

But it’s a well-acted, courageous treatment of a grim subject, making no apologies for its outlaw stance against a system that so often fails the most vulnerable. The movie was written by Stephen Johnson and directed by Chris Thomson.