Powerful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Sorry, Taylor Lautner, but your parody of a college look doesn't help very much to making this a good movie, even though your acting is some of the best in this show. It takes about half an hour with silly and pointless presentation of the main characters to get to some point in the plot, and from then on - very few surprises, if any. Movies with a cast on this level normally get saved by some good acting, but this is low quality all the way. BMW can't have been too satisfied with their brand placement. It's actually sad to see what used to be very good actors, like Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver, waste their talent on this. Are roles hard to get? Something went wrong in the directing. You can actually see that they're trying hard not to overact, as they are told to on the set. And the great Swedish actor, Michael Nyquist, seems to have ended up as playing only super mean and no brained bad guys with four lines per film. So much for having a scarred face and crazy eyes. John singleton must be very pretentious, and it doesn't work. It's just sadly bad. I give it two stars just because I got sympathy for the crew.

I see a lot of negative reviews these days. Why can't people just watch a movie without analyzing every little detail. Try to remember what industry movies fall into; entertainment. If you watch it to be entertained,then have fun. Your review is a personal opinion, as is this one. I will not be deterred from seeing something just because somebody says they didn't like it. That said, it was a good overall movie. I was entertained. The first 20 minutes was a bit slow, but after that it pulled me in. I didn't focus on the acting & rarely do. It was fun. My 17 yr old granddaughter streamed it & I just happened to be in the room. We both enjoyed it & had some good interaction with certain parts, like when Sigourney's car explodes & when the house exploded. I liked the international aspect of it. Everybody was after him. I think the name is a bit deceiving as I was waiting for somebody to actually get abducted. Being raised by CIA agents for protection is far from that. Good intense movie with some good twists. The movie did what it set out to do.

This movie is actually not all that bad. There are certain points in fact, that gave me goose bumps... Like when Martin called Nathan and said; "Because I'm here son"... However, this movie contains a lot of Adult Themes, given the fact that the stars are supposedly in high school. It doesn't quite have that innocence it's supposed to have within all that chaos, you know, like with Transformers for example. For instance; where and how does a high school kid have the necessary connections, to have a loaded gun duct-taped to the bottom of a seat in a stadium? Also, the near sex scene, who's allure you could even feel approaching, long before the scene itself, because the movie's tone, is of kids doing adult stuff. This isn't really a complaint, and I don't really have a problem with it... It's just that, I wonder if it diminishes the intended complexion of the movie perhaps, and also... You ask yourself; Why wasn't this script given to adults in the 1st place?!Lautner's acting has never been the best, so that's a minus, which is unfortunate for him - because this movie had a story line worthy of making this Lautner's "Taken"/"007"/"Bourne". However I have to say, Lautner's athleticism impressed me. Certain parts of the movie didn't flow, especially in the beginning, and I wish they would've kept Martin's identity a secret... That would've worked wonders for suspense and a successful sequel... While we're busy asking, "Who is Martin", the studio has made room for it to be perhaps, Gerald Butler/Jason Statham/anyone else, who can live up to the hype.Anyway, Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina were necessary talents, who brought some firmness, to what was otherwise, a flimsy, though still, not all that bad, action thriller.5.8/10... Maybe even 6.

In Taylor Lautner's breakout role from the 'Twilight' saga, this film did possess some potential to showcase his range, depth and quality as an actor. However, one of the only things it appeared he did showcase was his bare chest. Not that I'm complaining. To be fair to Lautner, who played the film's protagonist Nathan, the script was extremely limited and I felt that the action scenes he was involved in built up tension and added some much needed spice to an otherwise dry and predictable wordplay. I did warm to Nathan's character, although there was rarely any character development as the story centred around him finding his picture on a missing child website and the action-packed aftermath of the revelation.The unnecessary love story between Nathan and Karen, the girl next door who he had secretly been crushing on, is rushed and although the two actors have great chemistry, the relationship seems to stem from nowhere and Karen's character is about as intriguing and useful as a wet floor mop. Acting by supporting roles such as Isaacs, Molina and Weaver were also adequate in fulfilling their purpose but again, lack of character development does not allow for a great understanding.Undoubtedly the film did have potential and some really interesting moments, however the in some places flat plot and diabolical script writing left me feeling confused, and wishing that Lautner could land a role allowing him to break free from the brooding teenage love interest that he seemingly escaped from in his previous films. I do think critics have been harsh on 'Abduction', after all it is rated PG 13, I mean were they expecting 'The Matrix'?Overall the action scenes were the saviour of the entire film for me, as I found myself gripped particularly in the end scene at the baseball game. The fact that Lautner performs most stunts himself adds authenticity and again, allows the female viewers some entertainment. I would say this film definitely appeals to the teenage target audience,and if you're just looking for some serious thrills and spills, disregarding the storyline itself, the movie is perfectly enjoyable. However,if you were anticipating a riveting action film with a fully engaging plot, you will most likely be disappointed.