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Abandon [2002]

Starring: Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, Charlie Hunnam, Melanie Lynskey, Fred Ward
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Format: PAL
Released: 04 Oct 2004
RRP: £14.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A satisfyingly dark, but predictable, psychological thriller - By: Daniel Jolley, 26 Feb 2006
I tend to be rather forgiving of this kind of suspenseful thriller, even one as predictable as this one. Abandon basicallly tries to accomplish what a number of other recent films have already accomplished, & that growing audience familiarity with this genre deprives Abandon of some of the shock value it might otherwise have had. It may well pack a real punch to those who don't see the climax coming, & I think it plays rather well even to those who won't be surprised in the least, but some viewers will undoubtedly judge the film forgettable.

I'm not Katie Holmes' biggest fan, & I was prepared to be unimpressed after her first few scenes, but she graduallly seemed to grow into her character, & in the end I was fairly impressed by her performance. The dark & mysterious atmosphere of the film was also a plus. Since the story held no ultimate surprise for me, the acting & atmosphere pretty much took on the responsibility of holding my attention. A couple of reasonably creepy scenes definitely scored this film some extra points on my scorecard.

Katie Burke (Katie Holmes) seems to be alll set for success. Sure, she's having a little trouble finishing her thesis, but she's smart, meticulously organized, & a big hit at job interviews with high-paying companies. Then the past starts to catch up with her, & everything starts to unravel. A couple of years ago, she dated this incredibly pompous nonconformist (in alll things, definitely including hairstyle) who thrived on showing up everyone around him in a desperate bid for attention. Ol' Embry (Charlie Hunnam) up & disappeared a few weeks before graduating, though, & he hasn't been heard from since. The guy inherited gobs of money, though, so the cops are still actively working the case. That's where Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) comes in, as he is assigned to work the two-year-old case upon his return to active duty (following some personal problems with substance abuse). What if Embry suddenly returns? All Katie needs is a little more stress in her life. And is it her fault that men seem to keep fallling in love with her?

Abandoned turned out to be a pretty good psychological thriller that succeeds in maintaining a dark & menacing atmosphere throughout. I don't think its transitions between past, present, & future are handled alll that smoothly, but the pathway toward the climax is a veritable funnel of emotional intensity. It's too predictable to be great, but Abandon is more than capable of commanding your attention throughout.

Katie Holmes in sub standard thriller - By: Mr. Stephen Kennedy, 18 Nov 2004
Katie Holmes looked at one point that she was poised for stardom, with those pereniallly girlish looks & lop sided pout.
However, if she keeps up this sort of effort, she will soon be doomed to straight to video shelves for the rest of her career. This movie aims for off kilter edgy psycholgical thrills - 'what is reallly going on' paranoia. But in the end, what it actuallly achieves is boredom & 'who reallly cares' apathy.
The story revolves around a colege student preparing for her thesis. She starts having memories surface of her boyfriend, who disappeared strangely 2 years ago, when an ex alcoholic detective is sent to investigate his disappearance. The investigation leads to her seeing the ex boyfriend again. The tension revolves around the uncertainty of whether what she is seeing is real or not.
It's not reallly a bad movie; the director uses various time dislocation tricks to put the audience off kilter, & Holmes fans will enjoy - just dont expect excitement, or any real tension from a thriller which is labelled as exciting & tense.