Abduction

Movie: Abduction

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Nathan (Taylor Lautner) seems to be a typical teenaged boy.  He has a loving mother (Maria Bella) and a rather strict father (Jason Isaacs).  His biggest problems seem to be managing his anger issues and getting up the courage to ask his neighbor, Karen (Lilly Collins), out on a date.  Nathan’s world is turned upside down when he suspects his parents are not his biological parents.  It turns out a really nasty foreign agent is after Nathan and all hell breaks loose because now he know where Nathan is.  Nathan and his friend Karen go on the run.  It also turns out that the CIA is after Nathan.  It becomes a race to see if the CIA will be able to get Nathan before the foreign agent (and his seemingly endless supply of gunmen) can get him and kill him.

My two cents: I had a little problem with the idea of a teenager to be able to get through what Nathan has to do.  Other than that, this was a decent movie.  Probably no Oscars . . . but enjoyable enough.

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Drive

Movie: Drive

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Ryan Gosling plays a character known only as “Driver” or “Kid”.  He is a mechanic who moonlights as a stunt driver and as a wheel-man for robberies – or whatever someone needs to “getaway” from.  Driver has a neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) with a small child and a husband who is soon getting out of prison.  Driver and Irene clearly have some chemistry.  Drivers’ boss and agent is Shannon (Bryan Cranston).  Shannon is involved with a pair of mob bosses played by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman.  When Irene’s husband gets out of prison, Driver helps him on a job that ends badly.  The further muddy the waters, the two mobsters get involved.  All Driver wants to do is get Irene and himself out alive.  Lots of action and lots of violence.

My two cents: I am getting to be a big fan of Ryan Gosling. From “Half Nelson” to “Fracture” to “Lars and the Real Girl” to “Blue Valentine” to “All Good Things” to “Crazy, Stupid, Love” to “Drive” he is like a chameleon.  He seems to effortlessly go from playing an emotionally-backward character to a suave lady’s man to an abusive controlling monster to a nice-guy wheel-man.  In this movie, Driver seems to be completely calm – but you get an occasional glimpse of the volcano waiting to erupt.  He is quietly eating dinner in a diner when someone who once employed him as a wheel-man offers him a job.  In a perfectly conversational voice, Driver tells the man “how about you shut your mouth before I knock your teeth down your throat and shut it for you” . . . and then calmly goes back to his dinner.  Albert Brooks was great as a smiling but utterly ruthless mob boss.  The violence in this movie is shocking at times, but if you can get past that, this is a great movie.

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