Abduction

Nathan (Twilight's Taylor Lautner) is in his last year of high school. He is a kid dealing with ongoing rage issues while also being in love with fellow student Karen (Lily Collins) who is literally the girl that lives next door. This particular plot development is only the beginning of many more cliches. Taylor, I'm sorry, NATHAN - is paired up with Karen for a school project studying missing persons. When researching the assignment together, Karen discovers a missing person website with a photo of three year old Nathan, said to be missing since 1995. Not being able to forget about this revelation, Nathan tries to find answers. However when Nathan confronts the people who have been pretending to be his parents for all this time, the house is ambushed and destroyed. Nathan flees the crime scene with Karen now being hunted down by the badies in the form of Russian Terrorists as well as being chased by the CIA who apparently want to protect Nathan. And so the journey beings to uncover the truth of who Nathan really is.
The premise definitely does seem intriguing and it had potential to be an entertaining popcorn flick. There are however numerous problems with the film, but it all comes down to the fact that the film must have gone into production on the first draft. That or screenwriter Shawn Christensen has never taken a screenwriting course. I understand that this is his first feature but seriously, there is some fucking atrocious dialogue, not to mention the fact that most plot developments are never set up: for example a ticking bomb suddenly appearing in the oven? From the trailer my guess of genre is understandably action, after watching the film I can't help to think that it's more of a romantic comedy. This is particularly obvious at the end of the film, which was one of the highlights, not because of the actual film but because the entire audience laughed AT the film. Never a good sign.
The cheesy dialogue and the shit plot development can at least be hilarious to watch - "HOW NOT TO WRITE A FILM." But the thing that actually annoyed me the most was the terrible cinematography. Cameras should not have a zoom function, this film clearly demonstrates why. Abduction looked like a family video with its constant zooming and god awful framing. Sitting in the cinema, I had my hands up towards the screen wishing I could move the frame, a little more to the left or the right and sometimes even down, ANY which way and it would have been an improvement.  
It was embarressing to watch some amazing actors up on the screen in this film. I walked into the cinema excited to see Sigourney Weaver and I left wondering what dirt the producers had on her to blackmail Weaver into appearing on screen. Other actors who also must have been blackmailed include Jason Isaacs, Michael Nyqvist, Maria Bello and Alfred Molina. If not even Sigourney Fucking Weaver can save the terrible script, then pretty much no one can. Taylor Lautner struggled as the lead man, but it's hard to say whether this is because of his acting abilities or because of the terrible script and direction. My finger is on the latter, meaning he still has hope. Then again...
I looked into the producers of this film, and who do I find: Mr Dan Lautner, Taylor's father. I'm left wondering how much blame do we leave on the Lautner family for the exsitanece of this film. My guess: A LOT.
0.5/5