Abduction
(2011)Twilight star Taylor Lautner stars in this Bourne-esque man-on-the-run thriller about a young man attempting to uncover his true identity after finding his baby photo on a missing person's website. Also stars Sigourney Weaver (Avatar) and Alfred Molina (An Education).... More
After finding the photo, with help from his hot neighbour Karen (Lily Collins, The Blind Side), Pittsburgh teenager Nathan (Lautner) confronts the woman he thought was his mum (Maria Bello, A History of Violence). No sooner, suited goons turn up on his doorstep killing both his "parents". Nathan and Karen manage to escape but find themselves on the run from police, government agents and shadowy figures...Hide
-
Directed by John Singleton
Starring Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Sigourney Weaver, Maria Bello, Alfred Molina, Michael Nyqvist
Written by Shawn Christensen
On Demand, DVD & Blu-Ray
Available from 4 providers
Flicks Review
The Peoples' Reviews
Reviewed & Rated by
Your rating & review
Rate / Review this movieRate and/or review
Abduction
BY Mark-Roulston superstar
As colossally stupid as the film is, ABDUCTION moves along at a brisk pace and never feels particularly boring. There's a certain masochistic pleasure in watching Lautner do his best to display any kind of emotion other than broody squinting, and while at times he honestly looks like he has no idea what he is doing, Singleton gives him several opportunities to take his shirt off and show the only real reason that he's a star. Which brings me to maybe the most underwhelming aspect of this entire mess, Singleton himself. How did this filmmaker, the youngest ever to be nominated for a directing Oscar (for BOYZ IN THE HOOD), end up making this kind of throwaway teen trash? With the exception of 2001's excellent but underseen BABY BOY, Singleton seems to have moved further and further away from the initial promise he displayed, and ABDUCTION is without question his lowest point yet. In the right crowd, it is probably a fun film with plenty to poke fun at but, much like its star, is ultimately a vapid and moronic product wrapped in a pretty package.
tinribs27.wordpress.comHide
BY HavokTheorem nobody
The storyline was very solid and stayed understandable while still being mysterious. There wasn't any oversentimentality, and Taylor portrayed the role of... More a fierce, trained but still unpredictable teen fugitive well. The few times where he took his shirt off (it's a requisite for a Taylor Lautner movie OFC) didn't feel forced, but rather very appropriate.
One thing that interests me was that it seemed Apple - yes, the makers of the iPhone - owned a stake in this movie. The teenagers did their schoolwork on Macbook Pro's and -Air's. Taylor had an iMac. His schoolfriend had an iPad. I'm suprised the cellphones in the movie weren't iPhones, but I guess it would be unfitting, so I'm glad it isn't the case.
Overall, this was a pretty impressive Bourne-inspired teen action flick which I can't find fault with. Though it was probably meant to suck teen Twihards into watching it, it's their boyfriends who will enjoy it.
I thought this was the best film I had seen in a while, so the treacherous reviews from the critics shocked me. Please do watch it.Hide
BY Laura-Anderson nobody
BY Shopqueen nobody
quite the teen flick ,but good to watch i enjoy this even Taylor did well
Showing 5 of 7 reviews. See all reviews
The Press Reviews
4%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
The script, direction, and pretty much everything else feels like Jack Bauer, 24: The Teen Years. Full Review
Director John Singleton offers bits of suspense, but Abduction is less a movie than a piece of engineering, a glumly ludicrous cat-and-mouse blowout designed to win Lautner male fans along with his girl demo. Full Review
Taylor Lautner tries to hold his own in an action thriller too silly to give him much of a chance. Full Review
Taylor Lautner can't hold cliche spy flick together with 'Twilight'-bred muscles. Full Review
Sadly, it's impossible to fake the faintest enthusiasm for this picture, which is a fourth-rate Hollywood thriller that bungles a lot of thievery from better movies, is entirely bereft of suspense or excitement and features a leading man who absolutely, positively cannot act. Full Review
Singleton once radiated ambition and vision. These days, he seems to be aiming for mediocrity at best. Even by those extraordinarily lenient standards, the inessential, perfunctory Abduction falls short. Full Review
Aside from such dutiful fan service, the film is a haggardly slapdash Bourne Identity knockoff, never rising above the level of basic competence. Full Review
BY Steve Newall Flicks Writer
John Singleton’s directorial career has veered decidedly mainstream since his work in the ‘90s, something you’d think would make him the perfect helmer for a Taylor Lautner vehicle (and "from the director of Boyz n the Hood" isn’t gonna mean much to T-Lau fans anyway). As with 2 Fast 2 Furious, he proves adept at shooting an action sequence but again struggles to inject the faint glimmer of tension or emotion that could poke through Abduction’s double whammy of rote script and wooden performances. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing a Bourne-lite for teenagers, especially one that taps into middle class parental issues by implying your folks might not be who you think they are.... More
By-the-numbers direction and writing, though, require charisma to carry a film and Abduction is abundant proof that Lautner just isn’t the guy for this. The dude is so wooden it’s like watching Pinocchio with abs, his stock moves being shirt removal, sullen and impotent emo glowering, and jaw clenching that is so intense and frequent you begin to worry his carved face might just explode into splinters. He can do the action stuff okay but, since this is a teens’ film, there’s not enough of it.Hide
Care to comment?