The Dictator
Larry Charles, 2012
Score: C+
Abduction
Abduction is actually quite a canny move for Twilight hunk Taylor Lautner, who obviously has a sense of his limitations as an actor (severe) and his chops as an action star (considerable). John Singleton’s film is a B-grade teen-Van-Damme sort of deal, moving briskly from one martial arts-heavy set piece to the next without leaving much time for things like emoting or talking. The nineteen year-old Lautner has an intense, glowering presence and a rare (in this country) ability to do most of his own stunts, resulting in some fight and chase scenes that aren’t chopped into mincemeat to substitute body doubles. He’s fun to watch, but the movie still wears thin, brought low by a useless and insufferable female lead (Lily Collins) and a plot that begins as cheerfully nonsensical and gradually grows into idiocy (such as the realization that there actually isn’t a single abduction on offer). Abduction does, however, offer the year’s most hilariously intractable line of dialogue: “I’m not dying here. There’s a bomb in the oven.”
-- Eugene Novikov
| Released: | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Genres: | Action |
| Starring: | Michael Nyquist, Lily Collins, Taylor Lautner, Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina, Maria Bello, Sigourney Weaver |
| Directed by: | John Singleton |
| Screenwriters: | Shawn Christensen |
| Rated: | PG-13 |
I saw the movie this weekend and liked it. I’d watch it again. Lautner is indeed fun to watch and does a great job. It’s an action picture and that is exactly what it delivers. And I don’t agree with the following quote “his acting limitations as an actor (severe).” He does a great job of portraying a scared kid on the run. The film ends with the kid still in shock, he hasn’t even begun to deal with what he has been happend in his life.