Abandon | | Cast : | Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, Charlie Hunnam | | Director : | Stephen Gaghan | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 18, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | March 18, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | Watchable | Content
 | This movie is not quite as bad as some reviewers make it out to be. It is entertaining and the end, for me, was surprising. The title is abandon and that's how you should watch this movie - suspend reality and enjoy. I would describe it as a thriller with a twist. Not bad. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 13, 2005 | | Summary | Having 'Abandon'ment Issues? | Content
| If the ending to this film was different the filmmakers would have been in serious trouble. While the actors all do a great job with the story, the suspense of it doesn't really build to anything that makes you totally involved.
Katie Holmes plays Katie, a girl who is troubled by the memories of her ex-boyfriend, who disappeared two years ago. She meets Benjamin Bratt, a cop who's investigating the case.
The twist ending is pitch perfect and made me like the movie even more. It resembles the twist of 'The Sixth Sense', not literally, but in the way that it made you completely re-think the entire story, which is good. The only problem is that, unlike 'The Sixth Sense', this movie's story was not as involving throughout the entire thing. Other than that, this film is not as bad as many would tell you. It's entertaining in its own way and the actors all do a great job in making the movie watchable. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | Spare Me | Content
| I hated this weak film.
First of all, I will never understand why the American public adores Katie Holmes so. Her performance in this movie is just another one of her lack-luster portrayals of "the smart girl". Benjamin Bratt needs to have a serious talk with his agent about this one.
The plot starts out interestingly enough -- artistic rich college boys goes missing and Det. Handler (Bratt) is assigned to re-examine the case two years later. He begins interviewing the boy's ex-girlfriend (Holmes) for clues to his disappearance. But everything from that point on is filled with ridiculous conversations, one-dimensional characters, predictable turns, and an unoriginal "please, I figured that out over an hour ago" ending.
The screenwriter attempts to make the situation interesting so that you will bear with his slow tempo (Charlie Hunnam is wasted as the unbelievable Embry Larkin). Unfortunately, there is no saving this film from its piecemeal examination of a banal female protagonist. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | forgetaboutit | Content
| The talent and beauty of its stars can't save "Abandon" from being a muddled mess of a film. This was the directorial debut of writer Stephen Gahagan, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for "Traffic," and it is a psychological thriller about a college student under a lot of stress (Katie Holmes), and the disappearance of her ex-boyfriend (Charlie Hunnam) being investigated by a cop (Benjamin Bratt). There are numerous flashbacks that blend into the present and start to get a little jumbled, and Bratt tries to figure out who is who and what is real or imagined, as he finds himself falling in love with Holmes.
Clint Mansell's score tries to heighten the tension with some eerie/spooky sounds, but instead the music becomes repetitious and annoying, and the end result of this film is that the intentions by all were good, but none of the pieces fit together to make a cohesive whole.
Benjamin Bratt is a magnificent specimen of the human species, and Katie Holmes has a lithe grace and an appealing vulnerability that make these two fine actors a pleasure to watch, and one hopes they both have a future full of great scripts and success.
If it is on the small screen, Bratt and Holmes make this film well worth watching, but it is too contrived (and in many instances silly) a plot, even for a rental.
Others in the cast include Zooey Deschanel as Samantha, Fred Ward as Lt. Stayton, Melanie Lynskey as Julie, and Gabriel Mann as Harrison. Total running time is 99 minutes.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 12, 2005 | | Summary | I loved this movie..the ending was AWESOME! | Content
| Don't understand the negative reviews...yes this movie does move a bit slow but it set's up for the fantastic finish, it is not predictable and the ending..what happens...well not only what you find out but what happens after that, is worth the 2 hours of your life.
A young woman is faced with the disturbing reemergence of a man she once loved in this psychological thriller. Embry Langan (Charlie Hunnam) was a wealthy but reckless student at an exclusive private college until he mysteriously vanished, with airline tickets to Europe left unused and plenty of money still in the bank. Two years later, Katie Burke (Katie Holmes), Embry's girlfriend, is still dealing with his disappearance as she goes into the home stretch of her college career. With exams, a thesis, and job interviews to think about, Katie is already walking an emotional tightrope when Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), a police detective, enters the picture.
Handler, a recovering alcoholic, has been ordered to reopen the Langan case, and as he questions Katie about the missing man, she finds her obsession with her former beau taking over her life, which leaves her all the more unnerved when she begins seeing Embry around the campus. Meanwhile, Handler's investigation begins to suggest Langan's disappearance may have been more sinister than imagined, and could be connected with other cases of missing students. |
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