| The
Review: |
"Abandon" is one of those movies
that suffers from what I like to call the "Traffic" curse,
meaning that the filmmakers involved in that 2000 Oscar-winning
project haven't made a half-decent movie since then. Take
Steven Soderbergh, for instance, who followed up his impressive
efforts with the unamusing "Ocean's Eleven," and then went
even lower with "Full Frontal." Now the Academy Award-winning
screenwriter, Stephen Gaghan, makes his own directorial debut
with this turgid exercise in overblown teen thriller politics
that left me perplexed for all the wrong reasons. Throughout
the film, I questioned the filmmakers instead of the plot;
I shouted obscenities at the screen in complete infuriation;
in short, I was pissed. Gaghan, what the hell were you thinking?
***
Although the target audience is
obviously teenagers, the setting happens to the college, where
the bright and highly intellectual Katie Burke (Katie Holmes)
spends her days and night pining away for a business degree
and a well-paying job in international spending and trade.
Such high ambitions, considering she is becoming increasingly
unstable when the presence of police detective Wade Handler
(Benjamin Bratt) delivers a jolt of reawakening in her concerning
a part of her past that she would rather leave dormant. ***
Handler has been sent out to investigate
the disappearance of one Embry Larkin (Charlie Hunnam), a
former student at the university who, for no apparent reason
other than sheer contempt for those around him, packed up
and left without a trace more than two years ago. Handler,
after making a connection between Embry and Katie, begins
questioning her about their relationship together before his
disappearance; at first hesitant, she begins to open up more
about the events that led up to that night in question. Pretty
soon, however, she finds herself the target of none other
than Embry himself, who has returned from afar to reclaim
her, even if she won't have him back. ***
As these series of events progress,
things are quick to develop into a regular, run-of-the-mill,
idiot-prone teen thriller where all the characters make all
the wrong choices, and end up paying for them later. Katie
is one of the most mind-numbingly stupid female characters
in the history of movies; when invited by her now-psychotic
boyfriend to rendevouz at his country house, she doesn't stop
to think that maybe, just maybe, he might have other plans
that don't include a night of passion so much as they do a
kitchen knife and a plastic garbage bag. Her actions only
become more dimwitted as things continue, to the point at
which I was screaming out insults and wincing in sheer agony
over her utter and irrepressibly obvious insipidness. ***
But that's not all that's going
on within the movie, folks (for those who have not seen the
movie, may I suggest skipping the rest of this paragraph,
and returning later). Gaghan, in what used to be his infinite
wisdom (which is now flushed down the toilet), gives the movie
one of those surprise-twist endings that either succeed and
throw us for a complete loop, or fail miserably and have no
energy to revive and already-dead project. His ending falls
into both categories: I didn't quite expect what was coming,
but when everything had played itself out, I only hated the
movie even more than I did prior to the finale. All the reasoning
behind the love interest between Katie and Handler, the various
run-ins with Embry, the subtle clues that Gaghan introduces
later in the film, all come together in a manner that is mildly
pleasing on a level of logic, but really, it just makes certain
characters look even dumber. No cop in his right mind would
be doing the things that Handler does here, and no female
college student, for that matter, would throw over Benjamin
Bratt. It just ain't happening, folks. ***
In terms of style and performances,
the movie is big on both, but they serve little purpose here.
Gaghan's attempts to set a mood for terror and suspense through
darkly-lit hallways and subdued colors (and let's not forget
the routine score by Clint Mansell) is outdone by the ridiculousness
of the overall movie itself; he's trying to manipulate us
with scares, and if you're luckyenough to realize it, you
won't feel a thing. Holmes tries her best to give us a good
performance, but her character is so banal that she's completely
ineffective. Bratt, while always admirable, cannot salvage
the wreckage of his character, either, and when you're left
with no points of interest, what is there to praise? "Abandon"
belongs to that not-so-rare breed of movies, that which is
becoming vastly overpopulated with each passing debut weekend:
the thriller that refuses to thrill.
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| Image
and Sound |
Another very good transfer from
Paramount, from whom we expect nothing less for recent releases.
The 2.35:1 image is replete with all sorts of weird cinematography,
but it holds together quite well throughout. Most impressive
are blacks, which remain solid throughout, and contrast, which
is nicely rendered and enriched by good shadow detail. Color
fidelity and saturation are top-notch, with accurate fleshtones
and no bleeding. Edges are very sharp and contain only minor
enhancement artifacts, and the overall print possesses almost
no film grain or noise. Quite eerie. ***
Also working to further the mood
of the film is the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, which makes
full use of the soundfield in its conveyance of Clint Mansell's
brooding score. Surrounds are very aggressive during the more
intense moments, and the front end and rear end connect nicely
through terrific imaging. Dialogue is recorded to blend nicely
with the rest of the track's elements, and deep bass from
the .1 LFE makes a strong statement throughout. An excellent
track.
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