He is the younger generation’s Matt McConaughey—the boy just can’t seem to keep his shirt on! It’s made him hugely popular among teenage girls in the Twilight series, but will it help convince us that he deserves his first leading role?
In the John Singleton-directed Abduction, Lautner plays Nathan, a high school wrestler who discovers his picture on a missing children’s website. Starting with the realization that his mom and dad aren’t really his birth parents, the plot tries to deepen into a Bourne Identity-esque espionage action thriller.
The operative word here is “tries,” because try as it may, unfortunately there are too many lines of dialogue that unintentionally distract the audience into ridiculous fits of laughter. And no, we’re not talking about the occasional sarcastic discourse commonly found in the Die Hard series.
It’s one thing for the shirtless Lautner to not be taken seriously as a dramatic actor, but you know something’s terribly wrong when even the iconic Sigourney Weaver appears helplessly robotic as a result of the depthless script.
While Abduction will likely not be up for a Golden Globe or Oscar, something tells me it may win a Razzie or two this year…
Director: John Singleton
Cast: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs
Running Time: 106 minutes
Rating: PG-13
