Movies Features

Unseen Movie Review: Abduction

By Adam D. Sep 25, 2011, 15:42 GMT

Taylor Lautner stars as a young man unwittingly thrust into a deadly world of covert espionage in Lionsgate\'s action-thriller, ABDUCTION, directed by John Singleton. For as long as he can remember, Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) has had the uneasy feeling that he\'s living someone else\'s life. When he stumbles upon an image of himself as a little boy on a missing persons website, all of Nathan\'s darkest fears come true: he ...more

Taylor Lautner had a career before 2008. Remember him in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 or The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl? Me neither. Then Taylor grew the abs, got a cool spiky haircut and landed a role in Twilight.

Overnight, his world changed faster than that guy in the Midwest who won the lottery and then put all his money into a factory that only make pastries with Bavarian cream (it’s on Google).

Now Taylor is cashing in on the fame the Twilight series has brought him by headlining Abduction and all I can say is good for him, he deserves it. Abduction is the right move for this young actor. He needs to do a thriller or action film to put young teens in theater seats. They might not buy him in a romantic comedy but they will pay to see him in another thriller where doesn’t turn into a wolf.

Robert Pattinson, who is arguably more popular than Taylor, has tried to turn his Twilight notoriety into real acting roles by appearing in Water for Elephants and Remember Me. Neither has set the box office on fire because they can’t bring in the young girls who cry during Twilight movies.

Taylor has been smart about keeping his movies in a mainstream genre. Let’s be honest, he’s not the next Olivier. He is aware of his limitations. He’s a good looking guy who definitely has a future ahead of him as long as he crafts a specific personality that people want to see on film.

Abduction is rated PG-13 and is clearly targeted to teens. The trailer for the film looks pretty good because they are trying hard to sell all the action in the film. It also has a very simple concept that makes it easy to launch right into the action. Taylor comes across a picture of himself on a missing persons website, and then bullets start flying and hopefully things explode.

The film is directed by John Singleton who got his start with Boyz N the Hood. He was 24 when he was nominated for an Academy Award for that film. He would go on to try and make films with a message, Poetic Justice, Rosewood and Higher Learning. Eventually he gave that up to do guaranteed commercial films like 2 Fast 2 Furious and Shaft.

Abduction is no different. It looks like a fast paced thriller aimed at the popcorn crowd. John probably realized it is easier paying bills when your movies make money.

Will I see Abduction? There are two reasons I won’t go see it. 1) I’m clearly not the targeted audience since I left puberty when Clinton left the White House and 2) There would be way too much texting and IMing going on in the theater and it would drive me crazy.

But as long as Taylor delivers a medium size hit with a box office in the $60-$70 million range he has a bright future ahead of him as the next big action star.

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