Sunday, October 2, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW ... ABDUCTION

 

abduction-movie-poster-2011-1020705467Abduction charts a typical teen movie-making template.  Place a hot young performer require them to look gorgeous, surround them with a strong support cast of veteran actors and presto a film is made.  Adding some guns and high octane action doesn’t hurt either. Abduction has an abundance of them.  A shame there isn’t much in the way of acting ability or coherent story with only fans of Twilight actor Taylor Lautner potentially finding much value out of this silly star vehicle.

Nathan (Taylor Lautner) lives a charmed suburban life with his parents.  Thinking everything is sweet, he receives a rude shock when he discovers it is a lie.  Finding out his parents aren’t who they say they are and that his existence has been fabricated, he goes on the run with an army of assassins on his trail.  Only trusting his neighbour Karen (Lily Collins), Nathan tries to unlock the clues to his past amidst a litany of savage explosions.

If Abduction is to receive any awards it must surely win for the ‘most close-ups of its lead’.  Almost every scene is shot with a loving eye on its star as he pouts, flexes and vaguely emotes his way through a pedestrian production.    Lautner isn’t any great shakes as an actor and so Director John Singleton ensures an explosion or gunplay isn’t too far away to distract viewers.  Which is probably just as well as the script is an appallingly cobbled together mess with logic and common sense thrown out the window.

Singleton obviously tries to embody the Alfred Hitchcock style with the various intrigues but fails on most levels.  The viewer is asked to accept a huge number of coincidental incidents which negate any form of reality Abduction attempts to muster.  The only time proceedings are engaging is when the action sequences kick in and they’re done very well.  They would have been better had some true suspense been generated with the only saving grace is watching how much worse proceedings can become.

Those wanting to see Lautner attempt his usual performance will enjoy Abduction.  Those wondering how the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina appeared in this can only assume the pay packet must have been more tempting than the mediocre enterprise in which they appear.

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Movie Review Rating   3 / 10

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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