Abandon Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 16th, 2002
"Abandon"
Katie Burke (Katie Holmes) is pretty, smart and on the verge of graduating college. The pressures of academic life weigh heavily upon her and the suddenly rekindled investigation by the police into the disappearance of her wealthy boyfriend Embry (Charles Hunnam), missing without a trace for two years, increases the burden. Then, she begins to catch glimpses of her old flame around campus and Katie is confronted by both her past and her future in "Abandon."
The title is apt, as in "abandon all hope," for this non-thrilling psychological thriller. Katie Burke is at the point in her young adult life where her academic studies are about to end and her career-oriented future is beginning to unfold. She is working on her final thesis and has hot prospects for a job in the banking industry, but she is plagued by anxiety and depression as the pressure of school bear down on her. When police detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), a man troubled by his own personal demons, is assigned to reopen the case of the disappearance of Embry Larkin, he becomes captivated by Katie. Her anxiety about school and career prospects push her into a state of depression, then she begins to see her former beau outside the classroom, in the parking lot or driving around in his vintage Citroen.
This is all well and good as we watch Katie's life unravel and Embry appear to be making a sinister reintroduction into her life at a time when Detective Wade is creating his own emotional inroads. The story by helmer Stephen Gaghan, suggested by the book Adam's Fall by Sean Desmond (the suggested bit should have given me pause), starts off with a dark, ominous tone. Unfortunately, the suspense begun at the start gets muddled as we are presented with a series of plot lines: the burgeoning psychological problems and pressures facing Katie; the unexpected return of Embry after his long disappearance; the troubled life of recovering alcoholic Wade Handler; the sudden vanishing of Katie's almost-a-boyfriend Harrison (Gabriel Mann); and, the random appearances, with disturbing overtones, of library maven Mousy Julie (Melanie Lynskey).
I knew there were problems with "Abandon" when I started wondering about the time. When I was sure this thing was nearly over I found that there was still 30 minutes left to play out. This isn't good for a 90+ minute movie, especially when you figure out the what's going on well before the end. There is also gratuitous titillation as Holmes, obligingly, strips to a bra, at one point, and panties, at another, to garner the attention of the young male crowd this film hopes to attract. This may be a good thing for the youth demographic as this so-called thriller has few thrills as it confusedly telegraphs its intent. Cheap tricks like mysteriously missing players (who reappear later with silly excuses) and obvious deep-seated psychological problems suffered by Holmes's Katie are supposed to keep you guessing (they don't). The inane device of a romance between Katie and the detective is out of place except to feed the obvious story line.
After seeing "Abandon" I wondered what the Desmond novel had to say. Maybe he abandoned the project when he read the screenplay (a surprisingly huge disappointment from Gaghan considering his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Traffic"). In the end, I felt cheated and give it a D+.
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