Released: June 2019
Director: Ernie Barbarash
Run Time: 98 Minutes
Not Rated
Distributor: Shout Studios
Genre: Action/Science Fiction
Cast:
Scott Adkins: Quinn
Andy On: Connor
Truong Ngoc Anh: Anna
Lily Ji: Maya
Aki Aleong: Dao
Daniel Whyte: The Visitor
If you’re a movie buff, what do think of when you hear the name Roger Corman? You’re probably thinking of terrible films, right? You know, movies so ridiculous, you’re amazed that they even got made. That’s pretty much Roger Corman’s filmography in a nutshell. Mr. Corman has been in the industry for 60+ years. He’s “produced” over 400 movies and TV shows. I have to wonder, though, how many of those movies just had his name plastered on them to sell and how many he actually worked on. Some of his more infamous works include Death Race 2000, Piranha, Galaxy of Terror, Bloodfist as well as some more recent schlock flicks like Dinocroc and Sharktopus. Most film-makers would probably be ashamed to have some of those titles in their repertoire and even more would probably cease to work in the industry altogether. Not Roger Corman, though. The man was a trailblazer in the indie film scene and despite the fact that very few of his films were any good(I can count on two hands how many), there was absolutely no question about his passion for film-making. Like George Lucas and other directors, Corman has inspired generations of film-makers that have embraced the absurdity of his style of film-making. The latest film that he’s produced is the sci-fi/actioner, Abduction(no relation to the shit movie starring Taylor Lautner)starring Scott Adkins and Andy On.
The film opens as Quinn(Scott Adkins)finds his abducted daughter in a trance and caged when he runs into the “people” that kidnapped her. One of the abductors knocks Quinn through a wall and he wakes up in a fountain in Vietnam with no memory of who he is and how he got there. Meanwhile, Connor(Andy On) is completing on final job as a hitman for a gang when his wife is abducted overnight. Quinn is arrested and tended to by Anna, a psychologist who informs him that he’s living in 2018 and not 1985. Soon, their paths cross with Connor and they discover that people are being abducted by inter-dimensional beings for their chi. Not even 5 minutes into the film’s opening and hits you with the crazy. Make no mistake about it, this is definitely the kind of film that Roger Corman would produce. It’s about as silly as you would expect from Corman. The story is for the most part, inconsequential and only serves to move the film from one action set-piece to another. There is nothing in this film, story-wise, that we haven’t seen before and done better. With that in mind, Abducted is very unapologetic about the kind of film it is and I have to respect that, even if it doesn’t always work. There’s a lot of things going on that don’t make sense and the fact that the aliens need people’s chi/feng shui to get home is……WHAT?! Feng shui does not work like that and neither does chi. It’s definitely better if you don’t think about it.
Scott Adkins has been a roll over the past couple of years. With films like The Debt Collector, Triple Threat, Avengement, and Accident Man, Adkins has been keeping busy. Those movies that I just mentioned are some of the best films that he’s ever done as an actor. He’s gotten a hell of a lot better as an actor over the years and it’s awesome to see him taking on some pretty risky roles. I have to say that I was not expecting Scott Adkins to portray a character the way he does in Abduction. It’s unlike anything that I’ve seen him do in a long time and it’s pretty decent. When his character gets out of the fountain, he’s lost his memory and has a terrible stutter, so trying to communicate his situation to others is a challenge. I’m wondering how much of that was Adkins just kind of making it up during the process and if he did improvise, it worked. I’ve never seen Scott play a character with such vulnerability. Andy On plays Connor, an assassin whose wife was also abducted. Andy On is a name that I’ve been familiar with for over a decade now. He’s been in fantastic movies like New Police Story, True Legend, The Lost Bladesman, and Fatal Contact. He’s a phenomenal talent and a decent actor to boot. His character, Connor, is an absolute bad-ass and even goes toe-to-toe with Scott Adkins towards the end of the film. Truong Ngoc Anh plays Anna, the psychologist who inadvertently gets caught up in the alien conspiracy. She does well enough for what she’s given as she’s pretty sympathetic. Overall, the acting isn’t terrible for a movie of this sort.
If you’ve got names like Scott Adkins and Andy On attached to your film, your action sequence need to really deliver the goods. Abduction mostly delivers. I’ll address the “mostly” part in a bit, as it’s a significant issue. The fights were choreographed by one Tim Man, who was responsible for doing the fights for Triple Threat, Accident Man, and Ninja: Shadow of a Tear. This guy knows what he’s doing and he delivers some pretty solid fight sequences. Some of the best ones feature Andy On taking an Brahim Achabbakhe as well as Scott Adkins, like I mentioned above. Ernie Barbarash, who directed the film, frames the fights pretty well. You can absolutely see what’s going on, and while the fights aren’t Avengement-level of brutal, they’re pretty decent in their own right. Now, I come to the “mostly” part. In most action and fight movies, there is a final duel which is supposed to raise the stakes for the film’s protagonists and cap off the previous two hours in a satisfying way. We don’t get here. There is no final battle. I would have settled for a 1-2 minute scrapper, but we don’t even get that. The film just….ends with a whimper. As someone who loves action movies and films like this, that is unforgivable. I understand that the budget was pretty small, but there really is no excuse for skipping out on a final fight which would given the audience a degree of catharsis. I wasn’t happy about that at all. It just gives the film a very unsatisfying and anti-climactic conclusion that sets up for a sequel that’s probably not going to happen.
Like I said above, Abduction is a pretty silly movie and when it works, it works. This could’ve easily been an 8/10 movie for me, but the complete lack of a final battle almost ruins the whole thing. That’s how important something like that is. I wouldn’t consider this film to be Scott Adkins’ best film, but it’s definitely not his worst. There is definitely some enjoyment to be had here, if you approach it with a certain mentality. It’s a Roger Corman-produced flick, so if you go into the film with that in mind, you’ll probably have a decent time.
My Final Recommendation: 6/10. A decent final duel would’ve at least brought the score up to a 7 at least. “No final battle for you.”