Cady's Take:

Embry, (Charlie Hunnam), was the campus rich-boy hothead, who staged bizarre theatrical productions because he could. Two years ago, Embry, which was also Katie’s boyfriend, vanished. No one knows what happened to him, but he was so contemptuous of society, everyone figured his disappearance was a theatrical stunt.

Handler thinks Embry is dead, but Katie is convinced he is hiding nearby, stalking her. Katie becomes haunted by visions of Embry around campus. Has he really returned, playing a sick mind game on her, or are her past memories simply getting the best of her?
Katie believing she has witnessed Embry's return prompts Detective Handler to question her and look further into the truth of Embry's disappearance. Exactly why everyone has waited all this time to start looking for him is the picture's only mystery.

I have always found Katie Holmes to be very appealing and interesting to
watch. She was razor-sharp in last year's "The Gift" where she played a
spoiled debutante tart. Holmes can hold her own and carries the movie well, but the material isn't much different than her TV show, making her character not much of a departure from Joey Potter in “Dawson’s Creek”. Katie's zestful dormitory buddy, Samantha (well played by Zooey Deschanel), is one of the only vaguely interesting people in the film. She's colorful, daring, sensual and funny.

The triple-yummy combo of Holmes, Bratt and Hunnam retains some viewer interest, but the thriller's Plot Twist finale is so rushed that audiences barely have time to enjoy it. The film's pacing is slow and often times very pointless. The blueprint to this tepid psychological drama is about as complex as solving a case handled by Inspector Gadget. This movie is too convoluted and it ends in a muddle. The roots of the various tragedies that unfold in this film seem fairly trite. The movie has no morals; the same is true for its characters. Ethics are pretty rare; too, as an investigator sleeps with a witness and possible suspect, and a psychiatrist makes moves on his patients. It does a nice job with the dark style used in the production and visuals, and the characters were interesting, but just not taken anywhere. In the script there is nothing that invites the audience to like Catherine.

Strangely, it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly is wrong with the film, but after sitting through it there's little doubt that something is definitely wrong. Gaghan's hail of effects and devices will leave some frustrated; others will appreciate that he's at least attempting to explode a few cinematic conventions. The scenes of Catherine seeing her ex-boyfriend Embry were the high suspense points, but even these were just not handled very well considering the ending.

Toss in traumatic girlhood recollections of abandonment by her father ("I love you. You can't come with me," were the last words her father uttered), and Katie's a basket case in the making. Because Katie is a desirable centerpiece that any guy wouldn't mind coveting, naturally there are suspects who may have been instrumental in Embry's retreat of yesteryear. Katie is pursued by Harrison, a college buddy, despite his being told that the two of them are just friends. Katie is pursued by the school psychologist to whom she reluctantly talks about her stress. Katie is pursued by detective Wade Handler, and by the team of interviewers for a finance company and more particularly by one particular fellow who is about to become a partner in that very firm. Everyone likes Katie.

The romance that sparks between Katie and Wade is preposterous and inappropriate. Their love scene, particularly, has to be one of the most sterile moments in any film this year – this is too bad because at this point in the movie you would simply like to see Bratt in a steamy love scene just to make him worth casting in this film.

The final ten minutes or so the story completely collapses. It also forces you to realize that everything that came before it wasn't structured at all. Recommended for fans of the films stars, but those who haven't seen it should only consider it a low-expectations rental.

For starters, I love any movie with Benjamin Bratt – I think he is a wonderful actor with a lot of big screen potential…the only problem is that his movies thus far have yet to “hit the mark” so to speak. “Abandon” is no exception.

This movie begins as a straight-on thriller. Katie Burke (Holmes) is a soon-to-be college graduate who is struggling to finish her thesis and also struggles to forget Embry Langan – her boyfriend who disappeared two years ago. Detective Handler (Bratt) has been assigned to find Langan at the request of the executor of the estate (of course Embry is a wealthy orphan, as well as a gifted musical conductor (?) which is how he meets Katie in the first place.) Handler goes straight to Katie and is immediately enthralled by her beauty and intelligence. Sounds good so far, right? It is – we have no idea what has happened to Embry and Katie is seeing him all over the place. Is it her imagination? Is it really Embry, jealous of her semi-boyfriend Harrison? The plot thickens, and thickens, and thickens, and thickens……

This is the part where the thickening plot usually clears and gives us our much awaited and anticipated ending. This does not happen in “Abandon” – we are given an odd, unlikely ending that makes everything that happened in the rest of the movie suddenly even MORE unlikely. This is starting to sound like a negative review, which overall it is not. My biggest problem with movies – and specifically this movie - is the cop-out ending (see my “Urbania” review); they seem to be becoming more and more prevalent in modern cinema. Lets look at what I liked about this movie:

1.) The actors – this is a strong cast, especially Katie Holmes who is fast becoming one of my favorite actresses. She has an amazing ability to make dialogue sound like actual conversation, she is pretty without being unbelievable, and she has a fantastic sense of timing. She plays Katie Burke with wit and style, and enough uncertainty that we don’t know what she knows and what she doesn’t know. Charlie Hunnam is very well cast as the object everyone else is searching for and he gives nice dimension to his character. Benjamin Bratt took a role that the script left underdeveloped (he is a recovering alcoholic, and he is tortured by his past but in terms of script development this is and remains until the end a thread untied) and made it into a character.

2.) The cinematography – the cinematography splits Katie into two people. The scenes in the library are blue and sterile, and the scary/funny library employee Julie seems to be the only other person who knows there IS a library on this campus. They are illuminating looks into Katie’s psyche and contain clues if you care to look. The flashback scenes are lush and romantic and anyone who does not fall in love with Embry in his first appearance on screen is just nuts. He is handsome and dashing and smart and if Katie doesn’t want him, you will.

3.) The first hour of the movie – the set up is great. Everything you see in the first hour should and will be questioned. As I explained, my big problem with this film is the weak ending. I do not like being let down and “Abandon” let me down. However the ideas in the movie and the performances were strong enough to compensate for the lack of originality in the ending.

If you want to think just enough, but not too much,
rent “Abandon” this weekend and see what you think.