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ABDUCTION

"Entertaining, Inspiring Finish"

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What You Need To Know:

ABDUCTION stars Taylor Lautner as Nathan, a high school senior who finds an old photo of himself on a missing children website. Nathan emails what he thinks is a female representative of the website, but it turns out to be some Eastern European thug who alerts his boss in London. Nathan confronts his mother about being adopted, who admits it, but the doorbell rings and two men barge into the house. A fight ensues, Nathan’s adoptive parents are murdered, and Nathan goes on the run with the pretty girl across the street, Karen. Nathan and Karen find themselves involved in an international spy plot that sends Nathan on a quest to find his real mother and father.

Some of the dialogue and plot developments in ABDUCTED are goofy and predictable, but the movie becomes more interesting the more Nathan learns about his real mother and father. Everything leads to a really nice finish that extols family, adoption and patriotism. Ultimately, ABDUCTION turns out to be an inspiring action movie for mature teenagers. Caution is advised, however, for a scene of teenagers drinking, passionate kissing between Nathan and Karen, violence, and some foul language.

Content:

(BB, PP, Ro, Pa, C, LL, VV, S, N, AA, M) Strong moral, patriotic worldview overall, marred slightly by some Romantic, pagan behavior, plus a couple light references to the Christian Cross; 13 obscenities (including one “f” word), one strong “J” profanity and three light exclamatory profanities, plus teenager has hangover and vomits and is grounded for drinking; some strong and light action violence includes bomb in oven explodes, men shoot teenager’s adoptive parents, adoptive mother who turns out to be a CIA agent fights with one thug, man kill’s boy’s biological mother with deadly gas, distant explosion of a car, villains shoot agents protecting teenager and his girlfriend, man hits teenage girl and ties her up and gags her, teenager fights villain in train compartment and eventually knocks him out, teenager throws villain off speeding train, chase scene thru hospital, villain shot dead, boxing between teenager and adoptive father gets a bit rough, villain threatens girlfriend’s parents when they fly back from Europe; no sex scenes but passionate and intense kissing between two teenage high school seniors, teenager shouts the “b” word and hero’s teenage friend lightly laments he’s a virgin; brief upper male nudity and young women in bikinis at party where there’s a pool; underage alcohol use and teenage drunkenness, plus teenager is grounded for a week for staying out and coming home with a hangover the next morning; no smoking or drugs; and, teenage protagonist argues with the father who raised him but doesn’t know he’s adopted, adoptive father punishes son by goading him during boxing training but it turns out father has a secret positive intent for what he’s doing, parents neglect to tell son he’s adopted but it’s partly to keep him safe from his real father’s enemies and potential enemies, youthful partying at fancy house where apparently college-age daughter’s parents are away, traitor exposed.

More Detail:

ABDUCTION isn’t record-breaking entertainment, but it’s a fun, solid movie that earns its kudos by the time of the exciting ending, which has a good finish that may leave most viewers wanting more. Which is just what the director, John Singleton, has already announced when he recently told the press a sequel is already in the works, whatever the box office for this first movie turns out to be.

The movie opens in an edgy way, however. Young high school senior, Nathan (played by young acting heartthrob Taylor Lautner of THE TWILIGHT SAGA), and his two buddies break into a college party at a fancy estate. Nate clearly gets soused and wakes up the next morning on the lawn. Back at home, his mother, Mara, grounds him for a week, and his father, Kevin, gives him a harsh boxing lesson. Mara interrupts the lesson before the male testosterone gets out of hand.

Apparently, Nathan has an anger problem that almost landed him in Juvenile Hall a year ago, but he’s gotten it mostly under control, or so his therapist (played by Sigourney Weaver) tells him. Nathan still suffers from nightmares, however, about a child’s mother being attacked while the child hides under the bed.

At school, Nathan is partnered with Karen, the beautiful girl across the street who Nathan likes but hasn’t dated, on a class paper about missing children. While working on their computers together at Nathan’s house, Nathan finds a child photo that looks like him on a website about missing children. He messages the site for more information, but the woman who answers him back turns out to be an Eastern European thug who alerts his Serbian boss in England, a man named Kozlow, that they’ve found Nathan.

Nathan’s mother admits to him he’s not their biological son. Just then, however, two men come looking for Nathan. Soon, Nathan and Karen are running from the bad guys. They find themselves in an international spy plot that sends Nathan on a quest to find his real father and mother.

Some minor parts of the dialogue and plot developments in ABDUCTED are goofy and predictable, but the movie becomes more interesting the more Nathan learns about his real mother and father. Everything leads to a really nice finish that extols family, adoption and patriotism. Enough questions are left open about the hero’s parents, however, to ensure a sequel.

In one sense, ABDUCTION is like a fairy tale, and it’s structured like a fairy tale. In many fairy tales, the hero or heroine finds themselves in a situation where their family has been attacked in some way by the villain or villains. In such fairy tales, the hero or heroine often undergoes a journey to defeat the villain and restore the family or repair what has been lost. ABDUCTION follows this pattern but has an ending that doesn’t fully complete the pattern but that could lead to a completion of the pattern in the sequel, or perhaps even a third movie.

Ultimately, ABDUCTION turns out to be an inspiring action movie for mature teenagers. Though Nathan learns his lesson about drinking alcohol, caution is still advised because of the movie’s youthful party scene, passionate kissing between Nathan and Karen, violence, and some foul language.