Abduction

ABDUCTION (DVD)
Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Release date: February 13th, 2012
Certificate (UK): 15
Running time: 106 minutes

Director: John Singleton
Writer: Shawn Christensen

Cast: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist, Sigourney Weaver

In the United States alone, as many as 800,000 children, younger than 18, go missing each year and an average of 2,000 children are reported missing each day (1).

Children go missing for a many number of reasons, ranging from abduction by family and non-family members, the result of running away from home or becoming lost or injured. Sometimes it is for more distressing reasons. However, it is rare and even unlikely that a child becomes missing in the way Abduction outlines.

Directed by John Singleton with a story by Shawn Christensen, it follows the exploits of sporty and not-too-bright teenager Nathan (Taylor Lautner). When he’s not at keg parties or passed out drunk on people’s front lawns, or sparring with his dad, Kevin (Jason Isaacs), or getting grounded by his mom, Mara (Maria Bello), he’s having recurring nightmares.

He talks to a psychiatrist, Geri (Sigourney Weaver), about it and she advises that he put it out of his mind rather than try to unravel its meaning. At school he’s given an assignment on missing children and paired up with classmate Karen (Lily Collins), whom he likes. While researching on the internet, they come across a photo of a little boy who looks remarkably like Nathan, he even has the same shirt with the same stain on it.

The teenager comes to suspect that his parents are not who they claim to be but are actually secret agents assigned to protect him from some very bad people. As he tries to find out his real identity, his house is descended upon by hit-men and with Karen in tow, they go on the run and the story becomes The Bourne Identity, but a dumbed down version with the only piece of intelligence coming in nearly an hour into the story. By this time, anyone who has no interested in Lautner just wants it to be over.

With its weak story, Abduction quickly disposes of its most interesting characters leaving Lautner to carry the film alone. Famed for his Twilight role and surely chosen to target the teenage market, Lautner sheds his shirt in 3 scenes in the first 15 minutes and by that time any hope of an affecting story that’s actually related to the issue of child abductions goes out the window.

There’s no charisma, presence or anything interesting but then that might have something to do with the fact that I’m not the target audience, but with a cast that includes Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist and Sigourney Weaver, I hoped for more. There was just nothing to relate to and no one to really care about in this movie.

Abduction, beyond the teenage appeal of Lautner has very little to satisfy film fans. It’s not that I was expecting too much, it’s that I was expecting something of substance, given its angle on missing children which I felt was a serious enough issue to make me want to watch a film called Abduction.