Rodrigo Amaro First of all I wasn't in good day when I watched this movie. i was hoping that a suspense would make me feel better about myself but it turned out to be a disappointment. It had a great cast, an Oscar winner screenwriter who had the chance to direct his first film. Second of all, I know that bad days isn't an excuse to complain about the movie because something was bothering me, but no one can say that I didn't try to like it. After 20 minutes watching characters so full of themselves, acting arrogantly and almost no likable qualities (except that most of them are beautiful) I started to think in doing this review.The story is this. Catherine (Katie Holmes) is an pressured college student and she's doing many things at the time, such as picking a career, write a thesis and have time for her friends (played by Zooey Deschanel, Will McCormack and Gabrielle Union). But she has another worry: the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend Embry (Charlie Hunnam, here he looks like Heath Ledger),disappeared two years ago that attracts the attention of a detective (Benjamin Bratt). We see flashbacks of the relationship between Catherine and Embry and we notice that they were happy (I don't buy this idea) and now she's stressed and can't function with her duties at all. She went to a therapist but nothing seems to work. She unites along with the detective trying to discover what happened to Embry, a beautiful, rich student that always left college for odd reasons. Suddenly (again!) Embry reappears and by that time the movie got so wrong, without any mystery, and no thrilling moments. I was expecting to see a thriller movie and not a character study of a annoying girl, not likable (at least to me) at all, arrogant (Please, don't think that Catherine is full of confidence, she's really arrogant, for instance the bosses talk she had in the interview or when she tries to be superior to the library girl, played by Melanie Lynskey). The biggest disappointment was everybody wants to be with her who acts this way and no one wants to talk with Harrison (Gabriel Mann), a very nice and charming character who protest against everything (a minor story that wasn't develop in the film). Too much drama made the film looks slow, boring, and killed the whole suspense. As mentioned in the title of this review, yes, I think that the responsible for this movie should say 'Sorry, My Bad!' because it wasted patience and time of the viewers who thought that this would be a great film, with interesting plot twists (it does have a plot twist but it's actually kind of funny and has something to do with the title of the movie). I'm giving 3 stars to this movie because of Gabriel Mann (known for his role in the Bourne series). He has the best scenes in the movie playing Harrison, one of Catherine's friend who always wants to get close to her. He loves her but she doesn't care a bit. An unappreciated character that every time that he appears on screen I liked him (but the characters in the movie always wanted to get rid of him). He's really an great actor here in this disappointing film. He really made this movie worth seeing.If you want to see another work from Stephen Gaghan, writer and director of "Abandon" go watch the excellent and complex "Syriana". You'll have nothing to lose by doing that, instead of watching "Abandon". 3/10

Turfseer Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) is the sad-sack protagonist of 'Abandon' (which should have been more aptly named 'Abandoned'). Handler has just returned to his assignment on the police force after being suspended (presumably) for a DWI or drinking on the job. Handler's supervisor won't allow him to use a squad car and wants to break him in slowly so he assigns Handler to a missing person's case. What's so unusual about this case is that the missing person in question, Embry Larkin, an artsy but rebellious college student, disappeared two years ago. It seems unlikely that a detective (even one who is returning after a suspension) would be assigned to a missing person's case (especially one that is two years old) since typically missing person's cases are not considered priority matters for a police investigation.Nonetheless, Handler focuses his attention on Embry's last girlfriend at the college, Katie Burke (played by Katie Holmes). Katie at first appears to be a bright Ph.D. student who's about to finish her dissertation and apply for a high-powered corporate job at a successful consulting firm. After awhile, Katie starts believing that she's been seeing Embry pop up around campus. The film's scenarist, Stephen Gaghan (of Syriana fame), intentionally keeps you in the dark until the film's end as to whether these Embry sightings are merely figments of Katie's imagination or actual appearances by the former boyfriend.The story unfortunately drags on much too long with Katie's fleeting glimpses of Embry. Nothing much happens in terms of the plot until another one of Katie's long-term suitors, Harrison Hobart, disappears. Katie's confrontations with Embry become more aggressive as she accuses him of having a hand in Harrison's disappearance. Katie is becoming more unhinged and starts seeing a shrink to cope with the disturbing confrontations she's been having with Embry.Meanwhile, the clueless detective Handler has not been acting like a very good detective. Instead of being suspicious of all possible suspects (including Katie), he seems to accept everything she tells him at face value. As it turns out, Handler has been attending AA meetings and soon decides that police work is not for him so he hands in his badge. But just as he has resigned, he receives some important news from a crime lab buddy who informs him that a note Katie claimed she had recently received from Embry was actually two years old.Before the film's climax, Harrison pops up at the college graduation and the audience learns that his disappearance had nothing to do with foul play on Embry's part (Harrison simply lost his way while hiking in a State Park). Fortunately for him, he already decided to walk away from Katie. But former detective Handler is not so lucky. He already had an intimate moment with the psycho college co-ed. Now that it's finally dawned on him that Katie has been imagining all these encounters with Embry, he tells her that he doesn't want to go away with her as they previously had planned.Abandon's conclusion takes place in an abandoned building near campus. In a flashback we now see what actually happened: Embry got sick of Katie and told her that he was planning to leave her so she knocked him over the head with a cement block and he falls into a pool of water, dead. The same fate awaits former Detective Handler: we see him floating dead with a bashed head in the grimy pool of water along with Embry's two year old skeleton.Abandon has some excellent cinematography, capable acting and a brooding score resulting in a nice, overall 'noirish' feel. But the story does not develop organically. It was designed primarily to showcase its 'twist ending'. Ultimately why should we really care about Katie, the film's antagonist? Does she really stand out as a unique 'femme fatale'? Not really. Sure there are a few good scenes suggesting that she's good at manipulating people (the job interview for example) but there are way too many of those clichéd childhood flashbacks suggesting parental abuse as well the aforementioned multiple 'Embry' sightings which slow the story down considerably. The same goes for Detective Handler, the protagonist, who never seems to be able to put two and two together. It's hard to like a protagonist who is so passive and pathetic.After watching Abandon for the first time, I was forced to go back and watch it again just to try and refresh my memory as to the important plot points. So many of the scenes simply are not memorable; they tend to blend into one another. Abandon's story feels more like an hour-long TV episode stretched out to fulfill the requirements of a feature film. Had it been done on TV, it would have been much more effective.

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.

Pookyiscute You might find going into this film, that it borderlines being a 'B' film. Not that it's bad, it's just not very good. Katie Holmes, being what I consider a mediocre actress, should really consider sticking to what she's good at. Playing, 'Joey' on "Dawson's Creek".For a part this size and with this dark force behind it, the casting really made an error in hiring Holmes for the lead in this piece. While beautiful, and not a bad actress, her innocence and small voice make her the wrong flavor of tea for the pot they were preparing. It was not a bad film overall, however there were times, when it tended to drag on, not make a lot of sense, and although I did enjoy the end of the film (especially the last fifteen minutes, or so), the rest of the time, it was carried a bit awkwardly. Only one part was a bit intense, while the rest of the film, was in my opinion somewhat silly. For some, it might leave you guessing, but I unfortunately figured out the gist of the end of the film, right from the beginning. And, while there is a twist at the end, it still leaves one wondering why you wait nearly an hour and a half to get to that point.The writing was average, the lighting and set design was good for this type of film, and again the casting was off, not only with Holmes, but also with Benjamin Bratt, who played the cop investigating the disappearance of Holmes' ex-boyfriend.If you're bored and need a good Friday night flick, and want something a little intense, and dark...you might find that this is right up your ally, however don't hold your breath with an outstanding film, because you won't find it here.