SnoopyStyle Katie Burke (Katie Holmes) is a college senior trying to finish her thesis, and land the big job. Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) is tracking down missing person Embry Larkin (Charlie Hunnam). He is a rich artistic student who was Katie's boyfriend when he disappeared 2 years ago. He's an enigma and a mystery that continues to haunt Katie.This thing is very muddled. The sad part is that there is a good movie in here somewhere. Katie Holmes is actually pretty good. There are a lot good actors coming in and out of this like Zooey Deschanel, Melanie Lynskey, and Tony Goldwyn. But first time director Stephen Gaghan has stuffed so many things in here. There are flashbacks, present day flashes of Embry, too many characters, pushing the colors to blue, and a disjointed flow. It's as if Gaghan couldn't get out of his own way.And the movie doesn't allow the mystery to advance. It drags on for far too long. It's a lot of glimpses of Embry. And Katie isn't quite frantic enough. Benjamin Bratt doesn't have the presence to play the cop. It has a bit of creepy atmosphere, but it wears thin pretty quickly. And the payoff comes out of nowhere to rewrite most of the movie.

robert-temple-1 So this was Katie Holmes when she was young, a cute and engaging kid of 23. And then she met 'Mr. Clear'. Well, let's put all that behind us, along with all those transcended engrams. Let's consider this film instead. This is a story about a girl who is trying to complete her Ph.D. thesis at university and a detective approaches her and asks questions about her former boyfriend who disappeared two years ago, and from whom she has heard nothing since. All the evidence points to him being dead, but he is still being treated as a missing persons case. We see a lot of the boyfriend in flashbacks, and he was as odious as, well, let's be frank about this, 'Mr. Clear'. Why do girls go for guys like that? And then there is the boy called Harrison Hobart (funny that, I once knew a Harrison Hobart from northern Ohio, and Katie Holmes comes from northern Ohio; is this an in joke, one wonders, as how could anybody make that name up?). Harrison is in love with Holmes but she doesn't notice. Did he kill the boyfriend out of jealousy? The boyfriend was heir to a huge fortune, as both his parents died when he was young. Has he been done away with for nefarious financial purposes? (Are any financial purposes not nefarious? A question for university students to debate in their dorms.) Holmes seems such a wry sweetie, always smiling in her bemused way. She has been so wronged, in fact, so abandoned (hence the title of the film). The poor kid was abandoned by her father at the age of five and we see occasional flashback glimpses of that. Such a trauma. How deeply has it affected her? And then to be abandoned by the boyfriend like that. But then he suddenly returns without warning and starts taunting her. What is wrong with the guy? Has he no heart? The cop is protective, falls for her, and she for him. Soon they are an item. Zooey Deschanel is Holmes's cute and irreverent pal, and is very good at being an off the wall friend. But the real knockout performance in this film is by Melanie Lynskey as a dippy girl who keeps chatting to Holmes in the library. Lynskey makes a fantastic character out of this small supporting role. Then we get the plot twists. However, a gentleman never tells.

lost-in-limbo I hadn't even heard of this film, until a friend gave it to me. From the plot's outline of the back of the case it sounded alright, but I was thinking that I wouldn't get around to it for awhile. However something kept bugging me that eventually I made a decision for it to be the next film I would watch. As it is, 'Abandon' was an adequately sedate and isolated mystery drama with a compellingly patterned (and very teasing) plot and outstanding lead performance by no other than Katie Holmes… yeah I had one of my eyebrows raised, but she was surprisingly convincing in her turn. Also she was backed up by a vibrant Zooey Deschanel, a potently sullen Benjamin Bratt and an intensely uneasy Charlie Hunnam. Fred Ward would also appear in nothing more than a cameo role.Writer / director Stephen Gaghan does a professionally stylized and polished job (especially the first-rate cinematography) in what is a solid, if unspectacular psychological driven story. The perceptive narrative (with an alienating script) moves in between present time and flashbacks to fully grasp what's happening in this puzzling set-up. Katie Burke is feeling the pressure to finish her thesis at a highly prestigious university and now a premier consulting firm has a real keen eye on her. However what's really plaguing her mind is that of her freshman romance two years earlier with Embry, and that of his strange disappearance. Detective Wade Handler (a recovering alcoholic) takes on the case, and begins asking questions and Katie comes under his eye. Then out of the blue Embry begins popping up every now and again, to somewhat make Katie's life even more hectic.Sounds like nothing terribly new, and it isn't. However it's hard-working and well-executed, even though it demonstrates a shallow touch and feels like its doing nothing more than letting time tick by to only crash upon its big striking revelation. I don't think there are many possibilities to piece together or to truly throw you off track, despite its ditches to bring out the aspect of there being more going on under the surface. There's something there that keeps you watching, as it's slowly tailored (deliberately) with a somber air cooking up a sterile look with a metallic glimmer to the imagery. Despite its transfixing quality, it can get flabby but there's a certain creepy energy within and the hauntingly soft score accommodates the moody atmospherics of the dependable location settings.A conventional, but interesting mystery-drama.

beckoninglight_16 I just wanted to comment on the movie, since I just watched it this morning.Overall, the movie wasn't the greatest, but not the worst, either. Personally, it was a bit too depressing and emotionally revolting for my taste. The overall setting is about this girl, Katie, who has abandonment issues.All kinds of guys like her, but she chooses to go for the bad boys, or the creepy ones. (Benjamin Pratt) I didn't think his character was appealing at all. He was border line stalker and obsessed. He wasn't truly investigating Embry's disappearance at all. Instead, he was unprofessional; and tried the entire movie to get to know Katie-the neurotic and uptight chick. (Did anyone else feel revolted when her and Benjamin has sex?) They weren't convincing, at all.I was intrigued at some parts, but mostly it left me feeling hopeless and depressed. The movie had a dark, depressing tone to it.If you're into depressing story lines and bad acting, then watch it.