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TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY

ABDUCTION (2011)
Movie review by David Blackwell

106 minutes, rated PG-13
ASPECT RATIO:  2.35:1
STUDIO:  Lionsgate/ Gotham Group/ Quick Six Entertainment/ Tailor Made/  Vertigo Entertainment
Theatrical RELEASE DATE:  9-23-2011

STARRING Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Michael Nyqvist, Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina, Maria Bello, and Sigourney Weaver
WRITTEN by Shawn Christensen
DIRECTED by John Singleton

I think director John Singleton is smoking his own press too much in what he believes will be the first of new franchise.  Instead we get a sappy action thriller which is trying to be cliched teenage drama mixed with a Bourne-type action thriller.   Let's discuss the opening of Taylor Lautner riding on the hood of a truck as he urges his friends to drive faster, then they end up at the party where Taylor exchanges engaging glances with the girl who wants him before getting truck and ending up shirtless the next morning on the lawn after a night of teenage drinking.  His father picks him up and a male pissing match of boxing and kicking begins.   Cue next where Taylor who plays Nathan is partnered with so-called crush, Karen (Lily Collins) on a midterm paper on missing children.  He comes across what he believes is a kid that is him.  He contacts the site and next he knows he is on the run with Karen as Nathan uncovers the truth about his past and his real father.

ABDUCTION tries to play itself as stilted teenage romance drama, a film that caters to the shirtless Taylor fan brigade from the Twilight films, and an action film with some so-so action scenes which entertain and yet I have seen better staged scenes in Asian action films (and the Bourne films and the recent James Bond films).   Sigourney Weaver suffers through bad dialogue and horrible direction in the few scenes where she is Nathan's psychologist.   A gang of Russian criminals led by Michael Nyqvist lead the chase after Nathan along with a team of CIA agents commanded by Burton (Alfred Molina) who must get to Nathan before the Russians do.  It goes on like, blah blah blah with bad dialogue, weak character development, stop romantic action with two leads before it gets too steamy, and a father you only hear (and barely glimpse).   It is supposed to be a starring vehicle for Lautner and only ends up as bad action dreck that MTV might air or the CW would pass on.   ABDUCTION is a skip, wait for the DVD, and go see Jason Statham chair fight in KILLER ELITE like I'm going too next week.   I have a feeling that the action scenes in KILLER ELITE,  and the presence of Statam with Clive Owen and Robert DeNiro will outweigh the forgettable halfway entertaining ABDUCTION which is teenage action crap that shouldn't have been made (I rather see a sequel to I AM NUMBER FOUR instead of a a sequel to ABDUCTION).

this movie review is (c)9-24-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com