jennybeverage
I thought this movie was great! I'm surprised I never saw it, as I love Gabriel Mann, Katie Holmes, Zoey Deschancel, etc. This movie has a 4.9 right now and I can't believe that. It is more artsy than perhaps people were ready for back when it came out, but now I think it's a really great movie. "Slow" maybe but not more than a hundred films in the 2000s and 2010s that got much higher ratings. It's not horribly confusing either, although you do get to think during it to figure out what you think is going on. It's pretty good. I give this a 7.5.
Python Hyena
Abandon (2002): Dir: Stephen Gaghan / Cast: Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, Charlie Hunnan, Zooey Deschanel, Fred Ward: Effective thriller that concentrates on the absence of mind and the ability to function. Katie Holmes is about to enter the corporate world when a detective contacts her regarding a missing boyfriend. The victim taught music but was also known for his daredevil behavior. Holmes begins to sense his presence, which plays tricks on her emotions. Intriguing plot with several twists but a wayward conclusion. Directed by Stephen Gaghan who gradually provides crucial information that works well until elements of the third act come undone into formula writing. Holmes does well as the lead playing a woman trying to figure out what is real and what is not. The ending presents one of those villain prospering themes that seem common in these films. Charlie Hunnan as the missing boyfriend isn't easy to figure out but he steals his moments. Benjamin Bratt as the detective is there to sleep with Holmes. This is just in case female viewers become bored and need manipulated. Zooey Deschanel plays a sorority sister and the role is wooden. The teenage appeal of the film works against it but it is well made technically with a message that seems real enough. The Film addresses power and risking anything without abandoning self. Score: 7 / 10
Michael O'Keefe
Intense, dark and desperate. Katie(Katie Holmes)is a college student that has about reached her stress level trying to finish her thesis while competing with her friends for job interviews to enter the corporate world. There is one other thing...Katie is haunted by illusions of her extravagant well-to-do ex-boyfriend Embry(Charlie Hunnam) who's been missing for two years. Things become very tense and more complicated when a reluctant detective(Benjamin Bratt)reopens the missing person's case. This sleeper almost gets the best of you; but right before nodding off...the finale explains everything. Drug and alcohol scenes plus some mild sexuality and violence earn the PG13 rating.Most of the interest is the young Holmes, who seems to beg for your protection. Bratt could have phoned this one in. Zooey Daschanel is very noticeable as the 'anything goes' collage girl. Also in the cast: Fred Ward, Melanie Lynskey, Gabriel Mann and Gillian Ferrabee.
Michael Casagrande
This is not a great film, but a good one. The near uniqueness of the ending alone qualifies it as such - murderers (even crazy ones) are almost always caught. Katie Holmes is not, by the movie's end.Her performance is really quite good. This is a role I have never seen her in, and didn't expect. Yet she is quite believable.Other comments posted about the greater accuracy of the college milieu are right on point. Katie's performance in the McKinsey interview was spot on. One especially witty comment, when Katie responds to her friend's politically correct suggestion that they join a protest against globalization ("there's as much chance of stopping that as stopping" the sun in its tracks,) deserves special mention.Yes, the film is slow-paced, but it should be, given the unusual nature of the events described. The one moment of action, when Katie sends Bratt to a watery grave, is surprising, as one expects Bratt to solve the mystery and collar Katie, given his Law and Order background.
AD
