Abs don’t make the actor. It’s an unfortunate reality for Taylor Lautner, who gets his first big solo gig with the thriller Abduction because while the dude does have an awfully impressive six-pack, he isn’t exactly sculpted with rock hard thespian might.
Previously known as the werewolf from Twilight, Lautner doesn’t have the luxury of hiding behind fur ‘n’ fangs in Abduction. Here, he plays typical Pittsburgh teen, Nathan Harper, a member of the school wrestling team, occasional party hound, etc.
Oh, even though he describes to his psychiatrist (Sigourney Weaver), he sometimes “feels like a stranger” in his own life, it’s a pretty idyllic existence. Until the day he starts doing a class project on missing children and discovers himself online at age three.
Cue shady dudes with guns at his doorstep, and the chase is on. Oh, and before the house blows up, he manages to grab his next door crush (Lily Collins) to dash off with him.
The rest of the proceedings consist of Lautner running around, piecing together clues, and –– just for the kids –– doing wicked awesome stunts (sorry girls, not many shirtless scenes, but hey, he DOES get to fight on a train!)
Abduction can best be described as clunky. The script is an especially bumpy ride, riddled with bad dialogue and asinine occurrences, while the choppy editing makes the flick seem like an extended music video.
Lautner’s flat delivery of lines and statue-like expressions only bring out the bad in an already pungent project.
The presence of talent like Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello and Alfred Molina suggest they owed the producer a favour. That, or a dump truck full of money pulled up to their back yard. In any case, I DID like hearing Vernon’s own Andrew Allen on the film’s soundtrack, but the “likes” pretty much started and stopped there.
The feature is currently playing at Galaxy Cinemas in Vernon.
–– Jason Armstrong is the movie reviewer for The Morning Star. His column, Aisle Seat, appears every Friday and Sunday.
