Abduction

We've all seen CIA/espionage/spy related films before. The list is too numerous, however "Abduction" had enough difference to it to give it that edge, certainly an element of originality.

This is a thriller centered on Nathan (Taylor Lautner), a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website. This only comes about when he and classmate, Karen (Lily Collins) are paired up for a sociology class project. Their assignment is to research missing kids and how it has effected our society. When going online, they see him as a child and Nathan starts putting two and two together, because now he must come to grips with who are these people claiming to be his parents. He confronts Kevin and Mara (Jason Isaacs and Maria Bello), his 'parents' and as they try to explain, two men break in and kill the parents. Nathan and Karen are now on the lam, being pursued by Burton (Alfred Molina), Dr. Bennett (Sigourney Weaver) and others. Nathan has valuble information that a Russian operative, Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist) wants, and will do anything to get it. Denzel Whitaker plays Nathan's buddy Gilly.

This was amazingly well directed by veteran director John Singleton ("Boyz n the Hood" 91, "Poetic Justice" '93, "Higher Learning" '95, "Rosewood" '97, "Shaft" 2000, "Baby Boy" '01, "2 Fast 2 Furious" '03, "Four Brothers" '05). This guy knows how to put an edge on a film and have you begging for more. It was written by newcomer, Shawn Christensen ("Walter King"- short '06), and if this script is without a lot of experience, I'd like to see more films by this guy. He will surely go far. There were a few places where things could've gotten really bad for Nathan and Karen that he left out, but certainly the road he took was a workable plot to use. Given more experience, Lautner will shine. How he transformed from this scared kid to this guy on the run was truly a realistic journey. 

If you like nail-biting, explosive, action-packed films with a decent plot, you'll love this. Certainly, it was a marketing genius to release this before Lautner's next "Twilight" film, which, of couse, Lautner is best known for.

Out of 4 stars: 3                        Rated: PG-13                           106min.