Abduction!!!

‘Abduction’ follows teenager Nathan Price (played by Taylor Lautner), who’s dealing with feelings of rage and anger, and thoughts that he’s living someone else’s life. While working on a school project with neighbor Karen Lowell (portrayed by Lily Collins), the two discover a missing children website with a picture of Nathan when he was three years old. He discovers that his parents, Kevin and Mara Harper (played by Jason Isaacs and Mario Bello, respectively), aren’t his birth parents, and they’re hiding a mysterious and dangerous secret.

While trying to figure out his true identity, CIA agents and assassins begin targeting Nathan, and he is forced to go on the run. He brings Karen with him, as her parents are away on vacation, and he begins to feel that he can best protect her. Nathan and Karen race to elude the agents and assassins, while aiming to solve the mystery behind his elusive biological parents.

Singleton, who achieved box office success with his last two action films, ’2 Fast 2 Furious’ and ‘Four Brothers,’ unfortunately failed to include the elements in ‘Abduction’ that made his previous movies thrilling and captivating. While the action thriller had an interesting concept, making a teenager the main protagonist who’s determined to discover the truth about his true family and background while protecting those he loves, the back-story isn’t extremely detailed. It’s hard to relate to Nathan, as there’s no in-depth information about his background, including why he felt he couldn’t fit in with anyone, or exactly why the assassins are after him.There are holes and questions that don't ever get answered.

Given that ‘Abduction’ is Lautner’s first major role leading outside of the ‘Twilight’ series, and the predictability of the thriller’s plot-line, the actor still did well with the material he was given.

While Singleton has received acclaim for depicting inner city violence in such films as ‘Boyz n the Hood’ and ‘Baby Boy,’ and achieved blockbuster status with ’2 Fast 2 Furious’ and ‘Four Brothers,’ the director ultimately failed to create a memorable plot or action sequences with ‘Abduction.’ He forgoed a detailed back-story to instead focus on cliched stunts. With Singleton’s reputation and the reported $40 million budget for ‘Abduction,’ the filmmaker should have interlaced a more developed, thought-provoking plot with better action sequences. Luckily, Lautner’s commitment to his role of Nathan helped redeem the film and make it more intriguing.

I enjoyed the cast, other than Lilly Collins. She played the weak damsel in distress and was a bit irritating. At least I think she was. I fell that the problem was in the writing, the plot development, the dialogue. At points I felt like a member of the team working on Twilight, was snuck in to work on this script. We got some gems such as when Nathan is being "blackmailed."

"You will then be responsible for the death of all your friends... ON FACEBOOK!!"

"I just saw my parents murdered in front of my own eyes"

How could anyone write or utter "I'm not dying here: there's a bomb in the oven" with a straight face.

I had a hard time liking this movie. Its somewhat entertaining but a little ridiculous. I'd wait for Redbox.