Reviews & Ratings for
Abduction More at IMDbPro »

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46 out of 82 people found the following review useful:

Somehow manages to feel low-budget

Author: MosHr from United States
18 September 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I saw this movie at the 20 city live red carpet cast premiere. Even though the movie has lots of talented cast like Mario Bello, Jason Issacs, Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina - the movie and the poster squarely focuses on Taylor Lautner. The red carpet talk was about his martial arts background and the numerous cuts and bruises everyone had suffered during the filming process. I was expecting an stunt based, action oriented movie; even more by the talk and comparisons made to the Bourne Identity Matt Damon and Mission Impossible Tom Cruise.

First and foremost, the writing is sloppy, the story is riddled with weak dialog and clichés, tones changes on a whim - there isn't much more to the plot than what's given in the trailer - a missing children website leading to the world of guns, secret agents, CIAs etc etc. This movie continues a trend in modern CSI-CIA-crime writing; a lack of understanding of the basic principles of technology and I guess it won't bother most people but for me the whole plot seemed rather forced.

The most disappointing thing was that the action never felt like a high grade action movie. The much vaunted stunts came out as weak and the fights were just basic B-movie stuff that would have been acceptable in an early 90s action movie. There are no big car chases and the big stadium final set-piece is bit anti-climatic since the writing couldn't cover up the basic lack of oomph in it. This is even more surprising since the director John Singleton's last movie is the ultra-violent "Four Brothers".

The man Taylor Lautner himself does his thing and manages to not look like turning into a werewolf every time. He doesn't impress with his acting or his martial arts; which begs on why he didn't insist on a full team of martial arts coaches and stunt-men to make this movie into his action star vehicle. Lily Collins as Nathan's love interest looks a bit plain jane and has no personality; and doesn't quite create the chemistry with Taylor Lautner. The train kissing scene, which we were told would leave many a girls jealous, feels more voyeuristic and uncomfortable than jealousy-inducing explosive.

I hate to say it but it feels like a quick cash in on Taylor Lautner's name and fame. Everything is so undercooked and cheap feeling with numerous blatant and obtrusive product placements that it's just a big dupe to get the Twilight fans and teenager's ticket sales before anyone realizes that this isn't a good movie.

10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:

Brainless and Lame Story, Poor Lead Actor

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
9 November 2012

The teenager Nathan (Taylor Lautner) feels outcast at home; has nightmares; and is shy. His father practices self-defense with him; he has consultations with the psychologist Dr. Bennett (Sigourney Weaver); and he has a crush on his classmate and next door neighbor Karen (Lily Collins).

When he finds a website with photos of missing children with Karen, he suspects that he might have been adopted. He also contacts the site and the attendant locates him and calls Nikola Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist) in Europe and the guy travels with his gang to USA. Soon his mother discloses that she is his foster mother but his parents are murdered by two criminals. Before dying, her father asks him to run away. He takes Karen to the hospital and Dr. Bennett tells him that he is in danger and gives an address in Pittsburgh to him with the names of two persons that he can trust on. Now Nathan and Karen are hunted down by Kozlow and his men and also by the CIA. The teenagers do not know who is reliable and travels to the address Dr. Bennett gave to them.

"Abduction" is a thriller that wannabe another Bourne Identity-like movie. However, the brainless and lame story has many flaws and despite the cast with Sigourney Weaver, Michael Nyqvist, Maria Bello and Alfred Molina, the lead actor Taylor Lautner is a reasonable and unconvincing athlete and ruins any chance that this flick might have had. Lily Collins is gorgeous and nothing else. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Sem Saída" ("No Way Out")

18 out of 33 people found the following review useful:

A 'watchable' movie!

Author: M Smith from United States
26 September 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

**Small spoilers**

Why are there so very many BAD reviews?? Is this movie truly so very bad or do we simply have a bunch of Twilight haters amongst us? I hope there will be a time when we all can grow up and get over ourselves and jump off the 'lets bash all things Twilight' wagon and start reviewing one movie at the time because its simply unfair to incorporate ones own bias into whatever report we share on the www. Let's start over and assume…Lautner to be a brand new actor with no association to vampires or werewolves and a small town in the beautiful state of WA. Suddenly we can see Abduction for what it is. An action thriller with a heavy dose of martial arts, cunning stunts and an unfortunately overused 'sexation' of a young man who admittedly acts rather clumsy with his love interest and has a few unnecessary kissing scenes which were in part also placed rather poorly by the director. Overall however Abduction is a good 'watchable' film which reminded me a bit of Bourne Identity and Wanted with the misfortune of having been aimed at a (female) teenage audience. And so we grown-ups have to put up with the unnecessary swipe of the strand of hair in the woods which he does for no reason at all and the odd statement of, "hey, I'm hungry!" just as things were heating up in the get-away train. All of the 'Oh so' dissatisfied adults here who claim they want their time and money back, let me ask you seriously, what did you expect from this movie? Maybe watching a preview had been a good choice here. Abduction did not promise anything it didn't deliver, so quit bashing a very talented and likable young man and don't blame the teen flick for being a teen flick!

6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

Before you criticize, let's see you do better! Well worth watching.

Author: David Holt (rawiri42) from Australia
25 June 2012

I wasn't going to write a review for Abduction - mainly because I didn't feel there was anything much to say. For me, the movie was fun and worth watching. But it wasn't exceptional (either way)! I should mention here that I always score the movies in my collection BEFORE looking at the IMDb average and I must admit that Abduction did leave me a little unsure of what to give it. However, my ultimate criterion for the score I give is always primarily based on how I felt right after watching a film rather than on a critical and clinical analysis of such "nut-and- bolts" as the quality of the acting, direction, lighting, special effects and so on. So, with that in mind, I gave Abduction 7.1 - and only then did I look at the IMDb rating of 4.6 and that, in turn, led me to look at the reviews already posted because I considered it to be overly harsh.

Well, people, I can only assume that all of you who have slammed this film for poor direction, poor acting and just about poor everything else are all Oscar-winning directors, producers or actors yourselves! It is clearly obvious that you could have taken the original plot and written a better screenplay and then directed it with young lead actors and won another Oscar! Come on!!

In particular, Jason Lautner is frequently vilified as being weak, ineffectual and lots of other negative things. However, I would like to suggest that he played the part AS SCRIPTED extremely well. He as SUPPOSED to be a timid, teenager! People have compared him to Bond, Bourne and goodness-knows what other adult male super-hero action figures. Why? He is a kid (albeit a handsome one with a nice body) who's dad - unbeknown to him at the time - is trying to prepare him for what will (possibly) happen later in his life because he knows who Nathan (Lautner) really is. It reminded me of Johnny Cash's "Boy name Sue"!

Anyway, Dad (who, as we very soon learn, is not actually his real dad) very soon turns out to be correct in his fears for the young Nathan when the bad guys arrive and kill him and his wife. (I REALLY loved the way she handled herself in her final minutes! WOW!! What a capable woman! That was most entertaining.)

Without wanting to spoil the story, we soon learn that there is no certainty at the outset as to who are actually the good guys and who are not (and that's probably the main theme of the mystery). Of course, we then have the insertion into the plot of Nathan's long-fancied but too- shy-to-act-on classmate girl (remember, this IS a movie and there needs to be a romantic element). Suffice to say that (step-)dad's training soon manifests itself in young Nathan when he is virtually forced to defend himself (and his girl) against ruthless antagonists and, considering his inexperience, he doesn't do too bad a job. But then I suppose all the 'knockers' who have vilified Lautner for "cheesy" acting forgot about that! He actually comes across very well as a young guy forced to fight for his life with no notice and I think he did so very well.

No, Abduction is not a block-buster - but it IS an attention-grabbing adventure that does what it sets out to do - entertain. So, if you happen to be reading this before deciding to watch Abduction, please ignore all the 'knockers' who, as I have said, would probably do a lot worse themselves (be it acting, directing, or writing!). Don't expect the best action movie of the year but just sit back and be entertained. By the way, I am NOT a teenager. Actually, I'm retired!

7 out of 12 people found the following review useful:

All round terrible.

Author: Troy_Campbell from Sydney, Australia
6 October 2011

I'll admit it, I thought the trailer for this action-thriller looked pretty good and, despite it being a Taylor Lautner vehicle, was quietly excited about seeing it. Well why shouldn't I have been? It stars legendary thespians Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina, as well as respected actors Jason Isaacs and Maria Bello. And the close quarters combat looked appealing too. I figured it couldn't be too bad. I was wrong. Way wrong. One of the worse blockbusters to grace our cinemas in recent times, Abduction demonstrates just how poor a film can be when those involved are only there for the money. The aforementioned veteran cast are positively woeful, John Singleton's direction is stilted and lead star Lautner (you may know him as Jacob from Twilight) has a long way to go before he will make a decent headliner. With crappy special effects and a forgettable soundtrack, this is all round terrible.

8 out of 14 people found the following review useful:

'Abduction' ...not bad & pretty much what you would expect

Author: skyme from United States
17 February 2012

Watched this last night, and it was mostly what I expected. After a wonky beginning, it's generally a popcorn, action/date movie that's not exactly high-art. The film is not the worst thing you've ever seen - it's really just an escape, with a good production, and that's it.

Zillions of reviews say Lautner was horrible. Huh? I really think people are just jealous. He was fine and didn't overact - he was sincere, fit the role & there is little reason to be upset.

These reviews lacerating Lautner were like people destroying Paris Hilton from "House of Wax," when in actuality, she was honestly alright in that. Not a big deal. Granted, I don't have strong feelings about either performer.

With a strong budget of $30M, the film looked confident and solid by John Singleton, the film is a fairly easy watch as it goes along, & the supporting cast of admired actors (Weaver, Molina, Bello) were fine.

Singleton isn't too flashy, and might just be cashing a check... but one thing he would do is make sure that the actors would have their moments, instead of too many quick cutaways.

The story is kind of fun in the moment, but, sure it's silly when you think about it afterwards. But, mehh. It was fun. Nothing is horrendous about 'Abduction.' I saw two of the Twilight films and thought they were easy to watch as well & not really a big deal. And Lautner's disposition is somewhat similar in Abduction as he was in Twilight. I think that's alright & he fit the roles fine.

If I were to complain about anything is that ½ of the fighting looked good, but ½ wasn't that great. Secondly, the dialog was usually fine, but it could get so dull/ cliché I felt sorry for the actors.

Thirdly, the ending climax with the villain was just straight-forward; you really see it coming. It's not clever at all & it felt very '80s. Fourthly, some of the chasing sequences were good, but sometimes they could lack blood-pumping momentum. Despite the complaints, the film is still a fun adventure.

I'd read so many bad reviews of this film...that maybe my expectations were low. But honestly, the film was fine and kinda fun. Just an escape.

9 out of 16 people found the following review useful:

Why Do People Hate This Movie So Much..??

Author: Allen Williams (thegimppimp2010@hotmail.com) from United States
20 March 2012

This film is a prime example to why certain actors are very underrated in Hollywood....I call it "The Luke Skywalker Syndrome"....One hit franchise that wrecks a young actor's career before it can really get started....

The Twilight franchise....Although successful....Isn't a franchise that is critically acclaimed or well liked by fans other than young people with out-of-control hormones....And because of this...Films like Abduction is either overlooked or totally panned by fans...

Sitting down to watch this film with Twilight in mind is going to ensure that viewers will NOT have a good time....Which is why wonderful movies like "Welcome To The Rileys" and "The Runaways" both starring Kristen Stewart didn't get nearly enough attention....

Now is this particular film original..??...No, it's not....I have seen the "My picture on the milk carton" routine used more than once....But is Abduction a fun movie..??...Yes it is...

Abduction is a popcorn movie....It's meant to simply allow the audience to have a good time....If people go into this movie expecting Oscar-like performances and a beautifully written storyline...Then those people are setting themselves up for a big let down...

But why put yourself through that when all that needs to be done is to simply sit back and enjoy the ride....And that's all there is too it...

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Enjoyable film for what it is

Author: kwdzr3 from United States
5 June 2013

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I'll start off by saying that this is my first review for a movie, and that I actually created an account on this website just to comment on it. Was the movie so amazingly mind-blowing that I needed to tell the world about it? No, but most of the reviews are very misleading and all of the hate coming down on Lautner is just ridiculous. All the reviews about how the movie is just about his abs, its ABSolutely about taylor lautner etc. are obviously coming from a bunch of fatties because guess what, LAUTNER Doesn't TAKE HIS SHIRT OFF AT ANY POINT DURING THE WHOLE F*** MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!! OK there is 1 scene like 5 minutes in where he wakes up completely smashed from the night before with just his pants on, but that's it. He got super drunk and lost his shirt, then he's in a scene for 10 seconds helping clean up the party with no shirt on. Big f*** deal, get of the couch you fatasses! What about the scene where he crawls out of the freezing river with the hot girl and they're both soaking wet shivering, that would've been a perfect opportunity to lose the clothes and prounce around in his underwear if he really wanted to, but no they just go to sleep in their wet clothes (lol). I couldn't believe people are making MULTIPLE hater reviews about how the movie solely focuses on his abs... ridiculous.

As for the movie itself, I think it was a very enjoyable action flic and it was very believable at times (Lautner actually hurts his hand punching someone's face, actually hurts his leg coming down off a big jump -- something you'd never see tommmy cruzcruz admit to), the acting was very solid in my opinion from lead and support, and it was simply realistic FOR THE MOST PART. No crazy scenes where there's a 1 handed head shot from 50 yds away while flying through the air or getting rushed by 40 bad guys yet they all decide to attack you one at a time. Once scene I didn't like was when a good guy is creeping up on a bad guy and they both have guns, the good guy gets the jump on him but instead of shooting he decides to do a flying tackle... what? Oh well, I guess he just needed to die for the plot.

The story was jumpy at times, kind of skipped around a bit and Lautner makes some stupid tactical decisions at times but looking back I'd say it's to be expected as a kid being thrown into a crazy situation like that. I very much enjoyed the fact that I EXPECTED it to be stupid over the top action combined with Lautner butchering every scene with desperation for attention, but instead it was pretty solid, realistic action.

I only have 2 negative remarks - Lautner needs to work on some different facial expressions, and the story could've used a bit more twists or emotion or something; I felt like it should've been a bit more suspenseful and gut-clenching considering the storyline. OK, so maybe that is a result of bad acting. So Lautner needs to work on his emotional delivery. At least he kept his shirt on.

In reality more like a 6/10, but it gets an 8 because I expected it to be a 4 and most people gave it a 2.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Thrilling At Times, Bummer At Times

Author: jimmyro from Israel
11 May 2013

As teen flics go, I relinquished a demand for total logic of my own volition. The movie began alright, and moved into the thriller suspense genre smooth enough. Even the initial action scenes were acceptable. Then came the wall known as linear plot development. Things stop making sense, became totally unbelievable and I stopped caring. The leading lady looks like a petite fourteen year old with thick eyebrows, like a Russian bear. The make out scenes border on illegal voyeuristic stomach turning filth. She is an unconvincing leading actor. Taylor passes the grade as a leading man, but just barely. Then why did I give it seven stars ? Because the first half succeeded in knotting my stomach and getting me excited before the all too common in Hollywood, devastating mess they called an ending. All in all, some fun, some suspense, some intrigue and I recommend.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Off to a good start

Author: kosmasp
10 March 2012

I did like how the movie started off. With the "rascal" Lautner (his character) and the mystery surrounding him. You get the wildest ideas (especially if you haven't heard about the story) where this might go. But as you may already know it gets pretty bog-standard after that. Lautner does his action-shtick and Singleton seems to do a for hire job after all.

The clichés keep mounting up and the action scenes keep on coming (not that it makes much sense). Someone like Jason Isaacs might have been able to ground the whole thing, if they'd let him (but they got other ideas for him). Mostly for Lautner fans and people who like simple action entertainment

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