Excellent adaptation.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

What does it matter if the plot moved slowly? I don't agree with the other comments here that say that there was no character development or that the movie was boring. It wasn't. It built up slowly but firmly to a very disturbing ending. The filming was brilliant, dark, moody, creepy. It kept me on the edge of my seat. It was a disturbing film because it hinted all the time at Katie's possible mental illness and her real abandonment issues, but somehow you were rooting for her to be the heroine and to find happiness with the cop. It almost seemed at times that reality was forcing its way into Katie's consciousness, which scared her, and then she returned to the self that she presented to the world. She was a psychopath. The library scene was scary, as was the scene with the strobe lighting where she 'sees' Embry. The abandoned dorm house that was to be razed was also creepy, the way the house stood in the background bathed in a kind of white light at night. It was eerie. The only thing that really didn't make sense was that no investigations of the abandoned dorms were ever done by the police. It would seem to me that this would have been done in reality when students went missing. This is the only reason I didn't give the film a 10. Otherwise, kudos to Katie Holme for great acting, and to Benjamin Bratt as well. His was a sympathetic character.

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.

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.

SPOILERS THROUGH: I do think this movie was a bit scary but that, to me, was the movie's strongest point. Well-that and a terrific performance from Katie Holmes. But the movie I did not care for. I'd heard very bad things about this movie and on the plus side, It Really isn't as bad as some have said but on the minus side, it isn't terribly good either.One thing that bothered me was for such an interesting premise, the movie itself wasn't all that interesting. It moves at a snail's pace and I predicted the "twist" relatively quickly. This one's not that difficult to figure out though on the plus side, the way it unravels has genuine impact. That was well done, I guess, and genuinely creepy as well.Maybe if the rest of the movie had been that absorbing it would have worked better. All I know is there is such a thing as using to many try hard to scare tactics. They succeeded with that but in the process, didn't do such a good job on character development, visuals or just the enjoyability aspect of viewing the movie.Watching this movie one feels like their in a tunnel. The whole movie seems to go almost in slow motion as well. It is a very dark movie and I'm not talking about the plot, I'm talking about the visuals. They are very dark and very gloomy. The whole thing with Katie's visions became overdone after awhile. She and Benjamen Brat, the Cop, had zero chemistry and he is to Interesting a character to have so little to do in the movie. I didn't care for the "twist" either or the ending in general. I wish it had gone in a different direction.Basically the previews of this movie make it look a lot more interesting then it winds up being. I did think there were some positives, the ones I mentioned above but I wouldn't want to view this movie again. My vote is slightly below average and a 4 of 10.