Abducted (2014) Directed by Mark Harris

Great, that's the second cheap "Taken" knockoff that I have seen, within the same week!

It's funny but the movie "Taken" basically was a basically knockoff and throwback itself to the revenge flicks of the '80's, yet it spawned a whole lot knockoffs of its own as well, none of which were as good or fresh as the movie "Taken" itself of course.

And oh yes, this movie definitely is a knockoff! It even exactly copies some of the scenes from the movie, so it leaves no question about it. That in itself isn't enough to call this movie a bad one of course but the fact that it's a bad and cheap copy is.

I actually start to notice how British movies are often far more brutal and straightforward than Hollywood movies when it comes down to graphic violence, yet they are never quite as hard-hitting and effective as well with it. It all comes down to quality. You can have as much violence in your movie as you want but when it isn't looking good and realistic enough, it's not going to work out. And that's the case with this movie as well. It's not a terrible looking or made movie but it's still a cheap looking one and instead of that helping to turn this movie into a raw and gritty one, it makes the movie a fake and silly looking one at parts.

It's also trying a bit too hard to be as violent and graphic as possible. It really feels too forced and therefor also doesn't work out as anything effective. It makes the story and movie as a whole a not so very realistic one, which is actually something that really hurts this movie, seeing how it's trying to be more like a more realistic and 'subtle' type of action flick, in terms of its tone and atmosphere.

Also wasn't too fond to the casting of the movie. Mark Harris (who also wrote and directed the movie) looks in no way like a man who is capable of doing the rough and heartless things that his character has to do throughout this movie. He just looks like an average guy, who could be your neighbor, who in his spare time mows the lawn, takes his kids to soccer practice and in the weekends goes shopping with his wife. At the same time, that's sort of the point of the movie of course; to feature a normal everyday man, who gets pushed to the edge and is forced to take justice into his own hands but it still has to work out as something convincing in order to also work out as something effective and convincing, which just isn't really the case for this movie though. It just isn't very convincing when he goes on a violent spree and acts all tough and confident and scares off some tough and hardened criminals, who all look like they can have him for breakfast.

There is also never a really good flow to things and the movie is really lacking a good build up at times. This especially becomes apparent during the movie its more dramatic and personal moments, which are cringe-worthy. All the more reasons why the movie just doesn't ever work out as the world's most engaging or convincing one.

At the same time, the movie still isn't as terrible as some people make it out to be. Or perhaps I just simply only say that because I have seen some far worse genre examples throughout my life. In any case, the movie at least doesn't bore and it's not a completely unwatchable one but that's about as positive as I can get about it.

5/10

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