Hey folks, Valkor here. When going through the TOV movie pile, sometimes I'll just go at it at random and just snag a film without a care of what I'm about to watch – I just go with it and hope for the best. Other times I'll examine the box art and check out who's starring in the film before popping it in teh player. This next round I went with the latter and came face to face with Taylor Lautner, star of those Twilight movies. I forget he had a bit part in Garry Marshall's "Valentine's Day", so this is gonna be interesting to see him tackle an action role. And believe it or not, the film is directed by John Singleton – yea "Boyz n the Hood", that Singleton. Ohhhhh this is gonna be interesting indeed.
In Abduction Lautner plays the role of Nathan Price; an average teen who has a good clean and wholesome life in a well to do suburban neighborhood. When working on a sociology project with friend and love interest Karen (Lily Collins), they come across a missing child poster that looks an awful lot like Nathan. So Nathan digs a little deeper and discovers that the child is him and that his current parents aren't his true parents at all. This discovery sets off a chain of events that puts Nathan in the sights of two groups - the CIA lead by Frank Burton (Alfred Molina) and a Russian psychopath named Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist). It's during his time on the run that Nathan will learn more about his real parents and why everyone is so hell bent on getting their hands on him.
The film tosses in some sweet supporting roles such as Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Bennet, Jason Isaac who is the current star of my new favorite series "Awake" and who also plays Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter Films; he plays Nathan's adopted father Kevin. And finally Maria Bello (of TV's Prime Suspect series) who plays Mara (Nathan's adopted mom).
Abduction is like the high school version of the Bourne Identity with not so much cool. They even hint at the Bourne series a little when Nathan and Karen are checking out the missing children's pictures and compares one poster to himself and Matt Damon. In the end guys will stay for the action but girls will stick around because Lautner takes his shirt off… a lot!
The Good:
As an action thriller, Abduction plays it by the numbers without throwing you too many curves. The story is OK and it does take a while to get started, but once it does it's a roller coaster ride from then on as Nathan and Karen are hunted by both the good and the bad. The action is solid with Lautner showing off his fighting skillz that are also well choreographed and nicely edited. Things never get crazy where he has to defend himself against, oh say 20 bad guys, but the fights he does get into are pretty decent. Acting is the film's biggest plus, which thankfully has a decent supporting cast lists that keeps things moving. Lautner performs well, but ya gotta give it up to Molina, Isaacs, and Weaver who brings a little class to the table. PerfectView nod goes to Lily Collins, who gets a steamy scene with Lautner but considering she's supposed to be a high school student, you don't get much more than some really passionate necking. Overall… not the greatest, but also not the worse I've ever sat through.
The Bad:
First up the film is way longer than it needs to be (106 minutes, could have been chopped to 90), it's also very predictable, with little to no real tension. The point of the story is that Kozlow wants this list. He knows who has the list (Nathan's real dad) and wants to use Nathan as a bargaining chip. Really? Other than that, what good is he? Nathan eventually gets the list, but come on, the writer(s) couldn't have come up with a better reason for all this chaos?
The Ugly:
N/A
Abduction is available now on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital formats. If you're looking for something to kill some time and still be somewhat entertaining, then you need look no further. Abduction has a decent storyline with nice action that makes this a thriller worth checking out. And out of TOV 5 stars, I give the film 2.5. Aw snap! I forgot to make some really bad Twilight/Team Edwards jokes. Next time Lautner… next time.
