Title: Abduction

Starring: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins (‘The Blind Side,’ ‘Priest’) and Maria Bello

The most effective, thought-provoking and memorable action thrillers don’t solely include high adrenaline stunts, they also include an intriguing story filled with surprising twists and well developed characters. Unfortunately, famed action director John Singleton failed to recapture his former glory with his new film ‘Abduction.’ The movie chooses to instead capitalize on cliched stunts, predictable plot points and one-dimensional characters to appeal to its intended audience.

‘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.

Besides the lack of information about Nathan’s past and background, Singleton also disappointingly give into the cliches that routinely plague action films. Screenwriter Shawn Christensen penned predictable situations and contrived dialogue for the characters, which Singleton supplemented with flashy sequences of gun fights, physical altercations and chases. For example, the movie begins with Nathan and his friends getting drunk at a house party, and his father punishes him in part by pushing him to practice boxing the next morning. Not wanting to be physically or emotionally beaten down by his father, Nathan gives into his normal rage and physically goes after him.

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 his casting in ‘Abduction’ will surely bring in the young teen following he has from ‘Twilight,’ Lautner proves to everyone else that he takes his training for his roles seriously. He seemed perfectly comfortable in the physical aspects of the role, whether it was wrestling with Isaacs or on Nathan’s school team, fighting assassins on moving trains or running through the streets of Pittsburgh, where the film is set.

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.

Technical: C+

Written by: Karen Benardello