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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much more than you may think..., February 12, 2008
I remember when I went and saw this for the first time and everyone I was with thought it was terrible. I remember being in shock because I thought it was quite good. Granted, at the time of its release I was in love with Katie Holmes and thought she could do no wrong. Now, years later I decided to watch this again to see if it holds up now that my fascination with Holmes has diminished due to her insanely strange new outlook on life. Well, it does. I don't know what to say to all these people who find this film horrendous. I actually really like it. It works, it's solid and it impresses me to this day. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's so much better than many make it out to be.
The film revolves around Katie Burke, a young college student who is haunted by the memory of her ex-boyfriend Embry. Embry has been out of her life for two years now, just up and disappearing, but suddenly he seems to be returning. This begins to take its toll on Katie when Wade, a police detective battling his own demons, begins investigating Embry's disappearance. Katie is struggling to complete her thesis and land a good job but the sudden reappearance of Embry is throwing a wrench in everything. As her relationship with Wade begins to flourish her own demons come to the surface and soon we realize that Katie is not who we think she is and that Embry's reappearance may have more meaning than we could ever imagine.
`Abandon' plays out like a B-movie, but a very good one at that. It's not as polished as most Hollywood fare; it's gritty and dark, and I think this does the film a huge service (thought I was gonna say `disservice' didn't you). `Abandon' is at moments chilling and this is thanks in large part to Holmes performance. Katie has always had potential but it wasn't until just before she went cuckoo for Tom Cruise that she actually began to tap into it. Her performances in this film as well as 2003's `Pieces of April' are among her finest to date. It's a shame she has thrown it all away.
The rest of the cast does a fine job as well. Benjamin Bratt does his best to stand out but doesn't fare so well. His scenes are smothered with Katie's commanding presence. Zooey Daschanel is funny and witty as Katie's friend Samantha and the beautiful Gabriel Union delivers as Amanda (although I really wish she had more screen time). Melanie Lynskey manages to make me remember her (as she always does) but it's Charlie Hunnam who really grabbed my attention. As the mysterious Embry he really gets under the skin and makes a lasting impression.
Stephen Gaghan's script is tightly woven and, while not exactly mind blowing and or original it manages to strike fresh blood; creeping us out as well as making us think. `Abandon' is surely misunderstood and underappreciated. Don't let the negative press keep you away from this one.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here, July 3, 2003
**1/2 "Abandon" is yet another in a long line of mystery films in which the audience is supposed to be thrown for a loop when it comes time for the filmmakers to unveil their "surprise, turnabout" ending. Only, in this case, most reasonably intelligent filmgoers should be able to spot the outcome miles ahead of the characters. Katie Holmes stars as Katie Burke, an attractive but overstressed college student who has had serious abandonment issues ever since her father left her when she was a little girl. It turns out that Katie was also dumped by her boyfriend, Embry Larkin, two years ago when he mysteriously vanished from school without a trace. Benjamin Bratt plays Wade Handler, a detective sent to investigate the disappearance who believes that the boy may have met with foul play. Suddenly, Katie starts seeing Embry popping up in various places around campus. Has he returned or is someone playing a cruel and vicious game on the distraught young woman? "Abandon" provides passable entertainment for undemanding mystery buffs, I suppose, but the film, as a whole, is neither particularly suspenseful nor particularly intriguing. The details of Bratt's past, which are supposed to somehow figure into his psychology, are so sketchily filled in that we have almost no idea of what the trauma was that supposedly turned his life around. Katie's issues are a little more clearly outlined, but her character still emerges as little more than a pop psychology cliché - as is the whole movie, in fact, when you come right down to it. "Abandon" is not really a bad film, just an instantly forgettable one. Chances are it might fit the bill on one of those long, lonely nights when the brain goes into snooze mode and anything of any real substance just seems too taxing.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
dark, twisting thriller that... erm...truly... um.. Zzzzzzzz, February 3, 2004
Suckered in by the synopsis of this film on a box office channel I decided to check it out. The film follows the tale of a female college student in the middle of writing her thesis, who finds herself suddenly involved in the investigation of her ex-boyfriend's disappearance 2 years ago. After a fairly decent start that managed to keep me interested, I found myself unbelievably being gently lulled into a peaceful sleep at 2 in the afternoon by the film's dire lack of pace, extremeley quiet low key performances, and dull rambling script. After several minutes of my head lolling forward I found that I could no longer fight the hypnotic power of Abandon, and gave in to it's will. I woke up somewhere near the end, some 45 minutes later, where the film wound up with one of those not-really-much-of-a-surprise endings. I really am struggling to find something positive to say about the film. Some of the lighting was quite nice, and the opening music was very mood-setting. Katie Homles was ok. But apart from that, it was very poor. The basic idea was extremely good, but somehow the film just completely fails to deliver. I just get the feeling that it could have been so much more - a better script, better leading men and more inventive ideas could have saved it. As it is, I would avoid, unless you're wide awake at 1 am panicing about not getting enough sleep for work. In which case, stick it on and sail away to the land of nod...
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