ABANDON

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, language, violence

Rated:

The trailers make Abandon look like an edgy, terrifying thriller. In truth it's a sometimes slow-moving production with a shocking conclusion. It's not a bad movie; there are some excellent twists and turns, the performances are quite good, and the Hitchcock-like climax is riveting. Everything we took for granted is revealed to be sinisterly twisted. But it still doesn't erode the fact that all of the characters are immoral. Does the movie glorify casual sex and "high living" or condemn it? It seems to be up to the viewer to decide.

The movie opens in a prestigious college with young Katie Burke (Katie Holmes), an intelligent student going through mental duress. With end of the year exams looming, the pressure of finding a job, and dealing with her final term paper, Katie is uncertain of where her life will lead from this point on. Her best friend Samantha encourages her to loosen up... but Katie hasn't been happy since Embry Larkin (Charlie Hunnam), her former boyfriend disappeared. Things only grow worse when Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), a cop and recovering alcoholic, starts asking questions about Embry. The handsome young man was eccentric, wealthy, and talented. He's been missing for two years and the bureau wants closure.

As Wade starts digging around in the past, he comes across a photo linking Embry with Katie, but she's reluctant to answer questions. One night, totally wasted with her friends after a Rave, Katie sees Embry's reflection in the window. At first she believes it's merely a hallucination... but then she sees him again... and again... and again. Tantalizing glimpses of the man she fell in love with. In the corridor. Peering through a shelf at her in the gloomy college library. Walking around on campus. Then the note comes, calling her to their old haunt -- the soon-to-be-demolished mansion just off campus grounds. Embry has been abroad, living off what money he can make freelancing, "experiencing life." But his love for Katie has drawn him back to campus. Katie refuses to reinstate their romantic relationship. In the meantime she's having to deal with her upcoming job interview, personal counseling from an overly-interested therapist, strained friendships, finishing her thesis, and the many questions of Wade Handler, whom she finds herself attracted to despite their differences -- and the gap in their ages. Past experience has proven Embry to be violent. He never liked her to have other "male friends," and this time she's certain he's out to win her over... or kill her.

This film has been compared to many recent movies of the same genre, which really isn't fair. The problem is that the other films came first and Abandon does try to pull a few copycat moves. But this movie has one thing going for it and that's the creepy atmosphere. Dark corridors, dusty libraries, a country cottage after dark, a mansion falling to pieces. These scenes are spliced with taunting memories as Katie relives the past. Childhood dreams of her father abandoning her. Memories of meeting Embrey, of their first kiss, their first encounter. The cinematography is beautiful but this form of filmmaking also makes the plot difficult to follow. The acting is good (Katie Holmes and Charlie Hunnam have some real intensity between them) but the characters aren't well developed.

The movie is a bit tedious at times and demands a twice-over just so you can fully understand the plot. The ending is also a cliffhanger with a sinister twist. The PG13 rating should be observed, given mostly for scenes of typical secular college life -- drinking, drugs, and casual attitudes toward sex. Language is mild, although Katie remembers Embry using the phrase "screw you" several times, as well as taunting God "on his knees." (He encourages others to shout "I am the center of the G-d--n universe.") The scene at the Rave involves people smoking pot and taking shots of vodka. The first time she sees Embry is in a long sequence of flashing strobe lights. Wade overlooks kids in the dorms smoking marijuana. He becomes sexually involved with the girl he's investigating. Sex is implied several times, never explicit but proceeded by passionate kissing and sensual camera angles.

Girls in the dorm joke about sleeping with guys. (Samantha teases Kate about "doing" her therapist, who tries to lure her into a relationship.) Embry remarks that Kate must be a virgin because "no one this organized has time for sex." We briefly see Katie in her underwear as she changes clothes. The real problem lies in the sexualized violence in the film. Embry combines advances with physical violence, slamming her around a darkened kitchen and seductively kissing her neck while describing verbal violence against one of her boyfriends. In the climax someone is struck in the head with a large rock. We briefly see the body fall to the bottom of a pool of water and the person's head covered in blood. The ending twist is more disconcerting than satisfying.

On the one hand, Abandon shows how dangerous a sinful lifestyle can become. It also shows the depths of insanity and the emotional consequences of abandonment. But it also depicts the "dirty" side of college life graphically and doesn't give us anyone to root for. It offers some food for thought but when all is said and done more contentious viewers might want to abandon ship.