Rated: PG-13
Stars: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Michael Nyqvist, Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina
Director: John Singleton
Genre: Action/Thriller
Nathan (Taylor Lautner--Twilight) is a typical high school dude who rides on the hood of a truck with his buddies as the vehicle careens down the road, then comes home drunk from a party the next morning and gets into a boxing match with his dad, who knocks him around relentlessly--though Nathan gets a few licks in himself. Maybe he's not so typical after all.
One day, while working on a school project with his comely classmate and next-door neighbor, Karen, (Lily Collins) Nathan discovers himself on a missing person's website, and begins to question who his "parents" really are, and why a lot of other scary stuff starts to happen. Like why agents from the CIA are after him. And why some Serbian bad guys with thick accents are also hot on his tail. When all hell breaks loose, he must grab Karen and the two of them will run for their lives--discovering along the way that in the world of high-level espionage, there is almost no one you can trust.
What I liked
- Enough plot twists to at least keep you hanging in there
- Taylor Lautner appears to have the right stuff to become an enduring teen heartthrob/action star. Now he needs to work on developing his acting chops.
- The "action" scene between Nathan and Karen on a moving train.
What I didn't like
- Flat, comic book characters
- The same old shoot 'em up, blow 'em up fascination with violence that drives most of the crap out of Hollywood these days
What I can't figure out
- Why Sigourney Weaver is in this movie
- Why they couldn't find a more apropos title than Abduction, which doesn't really fit.
- Why Michael Nyqvist--most notably of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy--is in this movie. He does deliver the most interesting performance, as the key Serbian baddie. (Yeah, he's Swedish. Serbian...Swedish...all the same to us 'MERICANS, right? )
- Why they turn the sound up so damn loud in the theaters! With a BOOM CRASH BLARING ROCK SOUNDTRACK like this, you might need to stick your fingers in your ears at times. Some in this audience may have to choose whether to do that, or to leave their finger in their nose.
In summation
With its two young stars, Abduction is geared toward the teen set, so if you're over twenty and leaning toward this type of flick, save your money and rent 3 Days of the Condor, with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway--one of the all-time classic espionage thrillers (in my opinion). If you're younger, you just might like this one. The pacing is frenetic and nonstop...just like your attention span.
Grade: C
