This weekend, two hours of my life were abducted and will never return. I went to the movies with my siblings to watch the movie Abduction, and walked out feeling very disappointed. Considering the trailer for the movie left me in suspense, I worked myself up all week, alas with not the results that I had expected.
So, in order for you to understand why it is that this movie is really not worth your couple of bucks, read and take my advice. I know most of you probably use the applications on your iPhones and search online on Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb for ratings of the movie, I try to avoid them as I find the whole going to the theatre experience exciting. I make my mind based on the movie trailer and/or cast, and judge for myself. In the case of Abduction, I wish I had looked into it a little bit more.
First meet Nathan Price (Taylor Lautner), the “hero” of the film. We are first introduced to his character as this young, handsome, arrogant kid, who is emulating this “free” sort of lifestyle, riding on top of the bonnet of a car, heading to a party. At this very stereotypical American style house party, we are then introduced to the fresh-faced Lily Collins who plays the role of Karen, the love interest of Nathan Price. In this opening scene, they give each other these meaningful, dramatic, and corny glances, and we are then led to some more party scenarios.
After waking up with no recollection as to how it is he ended up topless on some stranger's lawn early in the morning, he is then picked up by his father, Kevin (Jason Isaacs), and his response is to pitch Nathan headfirst into a boxing session, smashing him around the head until he pukes. The mum, Mara (Maria Bello) laughs it off from a distance in the kitchen commenting, “Oh my boys!”
I’m not going to go into in depth details about the rest of the movie, but all I am going to say is after this point in the film, nothing else makes sense, and when it starts to make slight sense, it turns corny and lame with one liners such as “I’m not dying here: there’s a bomb in the oven!” or even worse, "You will then be responsible for the death of all your friends… ON FACEBOOK!!" What the?!
Alright, so a quick summary just in case I lost you: Nathan Price, was abducted as a child by a couple who he thinks are his parents. After a freaky incident, his curiosity leads him to question his mysterious past, which in turn leads to a series of dangerous events. The movie is filled with too much drama that spans 48hours. We may never know if Abduction is a satire or misfire, but I spent the entire film wracked by gales of choking laughter. All I can say is thank you to the cineplex for their vast array of yummy snacks that kept me in my seat.
Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars. And that is being generous.
– Ghadeer Al-Otaibi
Images: Official Site IMDb.com
