Abduction (2011)

Directed by: John Singleton | 100 minutes | action, drama | Actors: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Sigourney Weaver, Maria Bello, Jason Isaacs

Taylor Lautner is best known for his role as Jacob from the ‘Twilight’ series. His fans are met with ‘Abduction’, in which the attractive young actor takes off his shirt in the first fifteen minutes, puts his well-proportioned body to work while boxing and wrestling, rides a motorcycle (without helmet of course) and tough on the hood of a moving car. Lautner’s Nathan is a bit of a bad boy, as witnessed by his sessions with a psychiatrist (Sigourney Weaver) who helps him control his tantrums and understand his recurring dream. As a teenage girl, how can you not fall for him when you watch his frantic efforts to get closer to the girl of his dreams Karen (Lily Collins)?

Fortunately, the sociology teacher offers a solution. For a school project, Nathan is paired up with his neighbor across the street and they have to work together. The subject of their report becomes ‘missing persons’ and while surfing they come across a website with pictures of missing children, along with a picture of what the child would look like now. One of the first photos that the duo see is a photo of a boy who looks a lot like Nathan. At first, Karen dismisses it as a coincidence, but when Nathan comes up with hard evidence that he is that kid, she has to admit that it can only be that he has been adopted. For Nathan, the puzzle pieces seem to be falling into place. Now he understands why he always feels like he’s living someone else’s life. When Nathan wants to confront his mother about this, something goes horribly wrong and Nathan, together with Karen, has to flee for his (and her) life. A CIA agent (Alfred Molina) and his team as well as a sinister underworld figure (Michael Nyqvist from the ‘Millennium’ trilogy) are after them, but who can be trusted now?

‘Abduction’ is directed by John Singleton, whose excellent debut ‘Boyz ‘n the Hood’ (1991) has expanded the acting career of Cuba Gooding Jr. launched. Although the director was unable to match that success with ‘Higher Learning’ (1995), ‘Shaft’ (2000) and ‘Four Brothers’ (2005), they were reasonably successful films. ‘Abduction’ probably won’t get him an Oscar nomination either, but the film will undoubtedly do well with the audience it is intended for: young people whose frame of reference has not yet been built up by seeing the countless and better films in the same genre. The plot of ‘Abduction’ is quite well put together and fortunately not everything is equally predictable. But the dialogues are sometimes cringe-inducing.

The acting is also no more than average. Although acting veterans Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello and Alfred Molina skillfully play their roles, their presence hardly counts. Lautner – most of the time – does what he’s supposed to do, but it’s clear he doesn’t have enough experience yet to put a little more depth into his game. That takes revenge in the scenes in which a little more emotion is asked of him. The same goes for Collins. The two are convincing together as a young couple in love.

For the enthusiast ‘Abduction’ contains just enough action and romance, but neither splashes off the canvas. The film is exactly entertaining, but unfortunately also just unmemorable enough. It’s a shame that the interesting premise doesn’t deliver the exciting, compelling story it could have been.