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Abandon (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:108
Fresh:18
Rotten:90
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: The plotline for Abandon is too disjointed and muddled to offer much in the way of thrills.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC) makes his directorial debut with ABANDON, a dense, moody psychological thriller. Loosely based on the book ADAM'S FALL by Sean Desmond, ABANDON... Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC) makes his directorial debut with ABANDON, a dense, moody psychological thriller. Loosely based on the book ADAM'S FALL by Sean Desmond, ABANDON tells the troubled story of Katie (Katie Holmes), a college senior who's having a tough time keeping herself focused. She is still struggling with memories of her boyfriend Embry (Charlie Hunnam), who disappeared two years earlier. Her past comes back to haunt her when recovering alcoholic detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) is assigned to Embry's case. As Katie struggles to finish her thesis and secure a job with a prestigious firm in the city, she must contend with the reappearance of Embry, who seems intent on destroying her life. Gaghan's stylish picture, shot by acclaimed cinematographer Matthew Libatique, owes an obvious debt to classic thrillers from the 1970s (he even goes so far as to have Holmes sing a rendition of the theme to ROSEMARY'S BABY, ala Roman Polanski and his starlet, Mia Farrow). Zooey Deschanel (MUMFORD, THE GOOD GIRL) delivers yet another scene-stealing performance as Katie's snide, sarcastic friend. The film dwells in the murky territory between realistic college drama and abstract psychological thriller, making it an unsettling and suspenseful experience. [More]
Starring: Katie Holmes, Charlie Hunnam, Benjamin Bratt, Zooey Deschanel
Starring: Katie Holmes, Charlie Hunnam, Benjamin Bratt, Zooey Deschanel, Melanie Lynskey, Gabriel Mann, Gabrielle Union, Fred Ward, Will McCormack
Director: Stephen Gaghan, Edward Zwick
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Screenwriter: Stephen Gaghan
Director: Edward Zwick
Producer: Lynda Obst, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum
Composer: Clint Mansell
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Abandon
The film's final twist is admittedly quite effective, though it doesn't even remotely justify the interminable build-up leading into it.
The twist ending ... becomes discernible around the midway point, but Gaghan makes up for it ...
O ritmo lento e o final previsível (e absurdo) comprometem o filme irremediavelmente.
In the end, the film is less the cheap thriller you’d expect than it is a fairly revealing study of its two main characters — damaged-goods people whose orbits will inevitably and dangerously collide.
Nothing is more frustrating than a movie that banks on a twist ending that it telegraphs 30 minutes before climax.
For what I suppose must be classified as a 'teen thriller,' this film has a surprising amount of substance.
[Its] failure becomes most obvious in retrospect, when the realization dawns that the most affecting, inventive, and honest moments of the film were those that hewed most closely to the original text.
Don't bother seeing Abandon. Within half an hour of sitting down, you'll want to perpetrate the nominal act on the theatre itself.
Easily the most manipulative thriller since Brian De Palma retired to a career of spectacular irrelevance. That’s why it’s so effective — and fiendishly satisfying.
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