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B-

I was a little hard on this film when I initially reviewed it upon its
release. After watching it on DVD again I realized that there is a very
clever and beautiful story to be told but problems in the script prevent
it
from truly taking off. The performances, cinematography, and music are
all
great but it just can't seem to find a solid direction.

A film's trailer is a gateway to success and sometimes failure. In the
case
of Abandon, it proved to be the latter. The film was marketed as a
non-stop
psychological thriller but to be honest the thrills are few and far
between.
Abandon is more a character study with the atmosphere of a thriller. The
film's main priority is to tell a story and I think audiences were really
disappointed when they saw a movie that was short on thrills. That could
explain its not so great $10 million dollar box office gross.

Abandon is about a beautiful young girl named Katie Burke (Katie Holmes)
who
is nearing her graduation from a very prestigious school. She has a nice
future ahead of her, including a potential job at a top New York firm.
However, things begin to unravel when Katie's past comes back to haunt
her.
A police detective, by the name of Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), is
investigating the disappearance of Embry Langan (Charlie Hunnam), Katie's
wealthy and sometimes eccentric ex-boyfriend. Embry has not been seen or
heard from in 2 years, and the lawyers for his estate want to know
whether
he's alive or dead. When the detective begins to bring up several events
from the past, Katie begins to see Embry around campus and other various
locations. Has Embry come back for love or revenge?

Abandon has a lot of positives but a thriller it certainly is not.
Abandon
falters when it tries, at great lengths, to scare and surprise its
audience.
Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar for writing Traffic and is directing for
the first time with this film, can't seem to properly direct scenes that
are
suppose to keep us on the edge of our seats. However, He does a good job
of
making us wonder if Embry is really back or if Katie is seeing things.
Most
of his encounters come about when she's half asleep or frustrated and the
possibility of these two different outcomes are one of the scripts
strengths. Another scene that resonates involves a truly alarming
surprise for our main character when she's alone in the library. Other
than
that, all the thrills are by the book or non-existent.

Abandon's biggest strength is what isn't shown in the trailers. First and
foremost this film works as a very deep character study. As a character,
Katie is very interesting and her past experiences with men (including
her
father) who have left her plays an important part into the mysterious
disappearance of Embry. The character is well developed and several
scenes
give us great insight into her inner struggles. We learn about her
relationship with Embry through beautifully filmed flashbacks that are
probably the best aspects of this picture. The flashbacks are backed by a
very moody score and a sense of realism that make for really good scenes.
We learn through these sequences that Embry and Katie were a very happy
couple, with a possibly nice future ahead of them. When the film switches
back to real-time we realize why his disappearance has hurt her so much.
There is also an interesting tidbit about how she attracts men and
doesn't
even realize it. This part of the story establishes many key points in
the
plot that I simply can't reveal here. Needless to say Katie's development
as
a character is far more interesting than the thrills, or lack thereof,
that
are present in this film. More emphasis should've been placed on the
characters and not on what might scare us.

I must give major kudos to Katie Holmes for conveying all the emotions
necessary to establish Katie Burke as a very interesting character. Katie
Holmes proves that she can carry a film all on her own. Holmes usually
turns
in adequate performances in supporting roles such as in Wonder Boys and
The
Gift. In this film everything is on her shoulders and she comes out of it
on
top. A crucial scene during her job interview for the law firm is not
just a
statement of power for the character, but for Katie Holmes as well. The
scene shows us that Katie Holmes is ready to play a WOMAN and is prepared
to
leave the fickle role of Dawson's Creek's Joey Potter behind. She carries
herself so well during this film it makes you wonder what she can really
do
in a movie that has a better focus. Another asset that Katie brings to
the
role is a nice mix of naivety and sex appeal. Katie Holmes has a look of
pure innocence but she carries herself with a sex appeal beyond her
years.
This works for the character during several key scenes. After Dawson
Creek
comes to an end this year Katie will be one of the few to have a
flourishing
movie career once the Creek dries up. The cast members should get in
touch
with her agent.

> Benjamin Bratt is stuck in a thankless supporting role that isn't much
of a
challenge for the actor. This is essentially the same part he played on
Law
& Order and in Miss Congeniality. I heard that he displayed a great deal
of
range in the critically acclaimed Pinero so maybe he should focus more on
leading roles instead of throwaway supporting roles. I will say that I
did
buy the relationship between he and Katie that developed during the film.
Some critics found it unbelievable but for this story I felt that it
worked
on a certain level.

Charlie Hunnam has a very difficult task of making Embry an interesting
character. Since Embry is only shown through flashbacks and his few
"return"
encounters with Katie it must've been really hard for him convey the
emotions necessary to make Embry the eccentric character that everyone
describes him as. Hunnam is quite adequate in his few scenes. He does a
good
job of making Embry into a very spoiled and eccentric personality but
there
is something about this that hurts his character development. Half the
flashbacks show him as a pampas asshole. The entire time they were trying
to
figure out if Embry just left town or if he was dead I really could care
less. When a character is mostly unlikable it's very hard to care about
what
dastardly deed was committed against them.

Supporting performances from Gabrielle Union, and particularly Zooey
Deschanel are quite good. Deschanel provides the film with much needed
comic
relief. When the film begins to lag she brings it back up with a very
sharp
delivery of some funny lines.

I guess the most disappointing thing about this film is that Stephen
Gaghan's directorial debut is flawed, mainly because of his very own
direction. There is a more compelling story to be told here and I think
if
he would've explored it more this film could've been much better. His
script
lays down the foundation for some great ideas but his direction doesn't
allow them to shine through. He did some great work with the complex
Traffic
screenplay, creating interesting characters and interesting circumstances
for them to fall back on. This is what makes this muddled effort a minor
letdown. While watching a making of feature on the DVD I learned that he
had
never even picked up a camera to record anything as he was growing up.
Maybe
some more experience could've helped him as he was making this
picture.

Technically the film is almost a masterpiece. The cinematography paints a
very moody and effective atmosphere for the film. The cinematographer
also
did work on Requiem for a Dream and some of the brilliant work he did on
that film is evident here. The use of beautifully lit backgrounds and
scenery paint a perfect portrait for the flashback scenes and his use of
dark blues and muddy greens provide set the mood for the darker themes of
the story. For instance, there is a scene where Katie first sees Embry's
return in a room that consists of a strobe light. The scene is so well
done
that it's one of the scenes that generates any tension. It's a scene that
proves that atmosphere is key. The music, which was composed by another
Requiem for a Dream team member, is also great. The score supplies a
unique
voice for the main character and almost serves as a way to get into her
mind. There is a scene where Katie ventures back to Embry's country house
for the first time since his disappearance and the scores soft yet moody
use
of the piano during this scene is enough to convey the emotions that the
character is feeling.

I also was a bit hard on the film's ending when I first reviewed it but
upon
second viewing I think it actually works. It is a bit clich.

I watch this film for my mother .

I watch this film for my mother .

@Im a legend .

great movie.

nice!.

this movie is a good movie blah blah blah and thats all i gotta say.

goooood movie i like it .

Ben Bratt is HOT!.

this movie was crazy! .

Love Katie Holmes.

I hadn't even heard of this film, until a friend gave it to me. From
the plot's outline of the back of the case it sounded alright, but I
was thinking that I wouldn't get around to it for awhile. However
something kept bugging me that eventually I made a decision for it to
be the next film I would watch. As it is, 'Abandon' was an adequately
sedate and isolated mystery drama with a compellingly patterned (and
very teasing) plot and outstanding lead performance by no other than
Katie Holmes… yeah I had one of my eyebrows raised, but she was
surprisingly convincing in her turn. Also she was backed up by a
vibrant Zooey Deschanel, a potently sullen Benjamin Bratt and an
intensely uneasy Charlie Hunnam. Fred Ward would also appear in nothing
more than a cameo role.

Writer / director Stephen Gaghan does a professionally stylized and
polished job (especially the first-rate cinematography) in what is a
solid, if unspectacular psychological driven story. The perceptive
narrative (with an alienating script) moves in between present time and
flashbacks to fully grasp what's happening in this puzzling set-up.
Katie Burke is feeling the pressure to finish her thesis at a highly
prestigious university and now a premier consulting firm has a real
keen eye on her. However what's really plaguing her mind is that of her
freshman romance two years earlier with Embry, and that of his strange
disappearance. Detective Wade Handler (a recovering alcoholic) takes on
the case, and begins asking questions and Katie comes under his eye.
Then out of the blue Embry begins popping up every now and again, to
somewhat make Katie's life even more hectic.

Sounds like nothing terribly new, and it isn't. However it's
hard-working and well-executed, even though it demonstrates a shallow
touch and feels like its doing nothing more than letting time tick by
to only crash upon its big striking revelation. I don't think there are
many possibilities to piece together or to truly throw you off track,
despite its ditches to bring out the aspect of there being more going
on under the surface. There's something there that keeps you watching,
as it's slowly tailored (deliberately) with a somber air cooking up a
sterile look with a metallic glimmer to the imagery. Despite its
transfixing quality, it can get flabby but there's a certain creepy
energy within and the hauntingly soft score accommodates the moody
atmospherics of the dependable location settings.

A conventional, but interesting mystery-drama..