Abduction (D or 1/4 stars)
'Abduction' (directed by John Singleton) is a piss-poor attempt to cash in on a young actor's celebrity; an exploitation movie where we are taken advantage of, as well as the young actor - who I'm sure has little idea that he's clearly being used {haha}. The film starts in suburban Pittsburgh, where 17 yr. old Nathan (Taylor Lautner, of the Twilight franchise) lives a privileged life with his mom & dad (Maria Bello, Jason Isaacs). He has a crush on his neighbor, Karen (Lily Collins), but, other than gazing at each other with pregnant looks, there's little interaction. Nathan's near-perfect life falls apart when, one night while surfing the internet for a school project, he stumbles upon a 'missing children' site that leads him to believe that he may have been adopted or worse ... abducted.
Villains, led by assassin Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist, of Sweden's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise), are suddenly in hot pursuit for Nathan; as are the CIA, led by Agent Burton (Alfred Molina - what are you DOING in this!?). Once his 'parents' are taken out of the equation, Nathan's only allies are Karen & Nathan's shrink, Dr. Bennett (Sigourney Weaver - what are you DOING in this!?). Chaos ensues as Nathan tries to stay alive & uncover the truth about his life.
The biggest problem (of many) for 'Abduction' is that it's just plain boring; lacking in narrative energy. The plot is eye-rollingly convoluted & stupid (feels more like a rough draft of a movie than the finished product). And furthermore, the ending is as soft as they come. We were forced to sit through 100 min. of knock-off Bourne Identity awfulness only to get a blah ending after all of it. I thought a kick-butt ending could have salvaged the film a little -- but, no.
And now we come to Taylor Lautner. As I mentioned above, I wonder how much he realizes that he was used to lure audiences; rather than thinking he was starring in a good action film -- still, I'm not gonna say "poor guy" {haha}. I think the problem with him in this role is that he's too pretty for male audiences to rally around. And since this is an action film, that cuts out a lot of the female fans. Acting-wise, Lautner isn't incompetent, but he's not an engaging Lead, either. He broods. He cries. He goes shirtless. He stares out of windows. He rides a motorcycle (a la Twilight, how unique). He knocks people out. It's all efficient, but not actorly. Bottom line of 'Abduction' is this: it's a lame, inconsequential action film for the teen crowd. And Lautner, while not terrible, will polarize audiences.
Villains, led by assassin Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist, of Sweden's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise), are suddenly in hot pursuit for Nathan; as are the CIA, led by Agent Burton (Alfred Molina - what are you DOING in this!?). Once his 'parents' are taken out of the equation, Nathan's only allies are Karen & Nathan's shrink, Dr. Bennett (Sigourney Weaver - what are you DOING in this!?). Chaos ensues as Nathan tries to stay alive & uncover the truth about his life.
The biggest problem (of many) for 'Abduction' is that it's just plain boring; lacking in narrative energy. The plot is eye-rollingly convoluted & stupid (feels more like a rough draft of a movie than the finished product). And furthermore, the ending is as soft as they come. We were forced to sit through 100 min. of knock-off Bourne Identity awfulness only to get a blah ending after all of it. I thought a kick-butt ending could have salvaged the film a little -- but, no.
And now we come to Taylor Lautner. As I mentioned above, I wonder how much he realizes that he was used to lure audiences; rather than thinking he was starring in a good action film -- still, I'm not gonna say "poor guy" {haha}. I think the problem with him in this role is that he's too pretty for male audiences to rally around. And since this is an action film, that cuts out a lot of the female fans. Acting-wise, Lautner isn't incompetent, but he's not an engaging Lead, either. He broods. He cries. He goes shirtless. He stares out of windows. He rides a motorcycle (a la Twilight, how unique). He knocks people out. It's all efficient, but not actorly. Bottom line of 'Abduction' is this: it's a lame, inconsequential action film for the teen crowd. And Lautner, while not terrible, will polarize audiences.