Abduction

Year: 2011
Genre: Action
Director: John Singleton

Plot: A teenager discovers that the couple who raised him aren't his real parents, right before they are gunned down by mysterious folks, who plan on using him to get to his real father.

The gist: Abduction is basically an attempt to create a younger version of Jason Bourne, minus the amnesia stuff. Taylor Lautner plays Nathan, a kid who has to figure out who is after him and what they want with him, while dragging the lovely Lily Collins along.

This film on a whole is a strict, by the numbers thriller where nearly everything is stuff you've already seen someplace else, and executed better elsewhere too.


The good: Lautner, to his credit, actually does better here than being Jacob Black in the Twilight films, even though Nathan is almost a carbon copy of Jacob. What makes him better here is that he isn't so annoying. And Lily Collins is always nice to look at, so that's a plus.

The bad: The other more established actors like Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina and Maria Bello are stuck being the supporting cast, which is a huge waste of their talent. This film is probably a paycheck gig for them. The action sequences are mostly dull, though the fight scene between Lautner and a bad guy in a train cabin isn't too bad. The climax is non existent and the plot too predictable.


Verdict: I probably tolerated this film better than most people, but I still wouldn't recommend it. You're better off watching the Bourne films. (2.5/5)