ABDUCTION (2011)

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Spectre.

We open with a truck racing down the road. On the hood is Nathan (Taylor Lautner). He is cheering his friend on, telling him to go faster. When they arrive at a house party, his buddy brakes suddenly, and Nathan lets himself tumble onto the grass.

At the party, Nathan sees his other pal Gilly (Denzel Whitaker) hand off some fake IDs to a student and pocketing 200 dollars. Nathan thinks he’s crazy for doing it, but Gilly notes he is the best in town and it makes him money on the side. They sit down, and Gilly shows Nathan that his dad got them VIP tickets for the Pirates baseball game in a few days.

Nathan sees his next door neighbor/crush Karen (Lily Collins) walk by with her boyfriend Billy (Allen Williamson). They share a look, something Billy notices. Looking to start a fight, Billy bumps into Nathan. Karen quickly whispers something into Billy’s ear and pulls him away. The situation diffused, Nathan tells his buddies they should have a good night and get drunk.

Cut to next morning. Nathan is shirtless on the front lawn, passed out. The host of the party kicks him awake, telling him her parents will be home in an hour. Nathan volunteers to help pick up just as his father Kevin (Jason Isaacs) pulls up. Kevin just looks at his son, and they drive home.

At home, Kevin and Nathan spar. Nathan doesn’t want to because he is hungover, but Kevin will hear none of it. They begin to spar, with Nathan taking a beating by his father, unable to block most of the blows. Kevin hits Nathan with a sucker punch to the gut, causing him to throw up. At this point, Nathan starts to pay attention and gets his dad in a bear hug. When that doesn’t work, he stomps on his foot then hits him in the chest with a flying kick. “I thought we were boxing,” Kevin says. “You told me the one who ends the fight wins.” Nathan replies. Kevin gets back up. “You wanna play with no rules, You better be careful what you let out of the box.”
–
Kevin and Nathan continue to go at it, now with no rules on their fighting. Eventually, Nathan’s mom, Mara (Maria Bello) comes out and stops them. Mara tells Nathan that since he went partying and got drunk, he is grounded for a week.
Nathan goes to school the next day. At his locker, Nathan can see Karen and trades looks with her. Gilly picks up on this; how the both of them are obviously flirting with one another, but neither will make a move. Gilly tells him to stop being a coward and do something about it.

Nathan and his friends are part of the wrestling team. Nathan goes up to the mat and quickly defeats his opponent. Looks like his dad’s sparring lessons had paid off.

At home, Nathan and his family have dinner, and he cleans the table afterward. He watches his parents dance and make out like teenagers, and he can’t help but smile at how they still love each other. Nathan goes outside just to see Karen’s boyfriend Billy storm off after a fight. Billy calls him a freak, but Nathan restrains his anger.

Cut to a psychiatrist Nathan is speaking to, Dr. Bennett (Sigourney Weaver). Nathan apparently was sent to her after concerns about anger management. Nathan mentions his incident with Billy and his ability to control his anger, which Dr. Bennett calls progress. “I’m still having the dreams,” Nathan says. Bennett looks concerned. She asks him when the last one was. Nathan says two days ago, and it’s always the same.

In the dream, a woman is singing to him when suddenly she is attacked by a masked figure. He is under the bed watching as the woman is murdered.

Bennett says that most dreams are parts of life you have led, and others are nothing more than nightmares that should be pushed away. Nathan notes she is probably the first psychiatrist that would tell her patient to suppress the dreams. “I’m not like other doctors.” Bennett says.

Back at school, Nathan finds out he has to do a 10 page paper in his sociology class. He is partnered up with Karen.
Nathan is at home playing video games, when he hears someone at the door. It is Karen, being let into the house by his mother. Nathan quickly cleans his room and changes his shirt before Karen gets up there. They sit down to start work, their topic being missing children.

Karen shows Nathan a site where the photos of missing children are computer enhanced to see what they look like. One picture of a child named Steven Price catches Nathan’s eye and he asks for the link. Karen says she has to go home to be checked on by her uncle since her parents are out of town. Nathan says he will be over in an hour.

Nathan looks at the photo some more, then looks at the enhanced version. It is a dead ringer for him. What struck him odd is the shirt the boy in the picture wore. He looks in the basement and finds it. It is a perfect match for his.

Nathan goes downstairs and tells his parents that he is going over to Karen’s house for a school project. They allow him, despite being grounded. After he leaves, they chuckle at him going over there thinking he is going for some “alone” time with Karen.

Nathan shows Karen the photo, but she is not convinced. However, when he shows her the shirt, she is freaked out. “Who is living in your house?” Karen asks. They go to the missing children website, and click on the link about seeing a missing kid.

In London, a man sees the website has traffic. He starts to talk to Nathan, claiming to be a woman named “Marisa.” Nathan is guarded with details, alleging he only saw Steven Price. The man begins a trace on Nathan’s location. Meanwhile, Karen starts to freak out of the implications this kind of secret would bring. The man tracking Nathan hacks Karen’s computer to turn on the web cam. He confirms it is Nathan talking to him. He calls his boss Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist) and tells him about the latest activity. Nathan notices the web cam has been turned on and quickly shuts the computer off.

The next day at school, Nathan shows his childhood photos to Gilly who quickly deduces they have been photoshopped. Furthermore, Nathan had only a handful of photos. Most parents take loads of them, Gilly’s included. Nathan is now really spooked.

We see Kozlow and several of his men enter the country. Most set up shop in a hotel, patched into several forms of communication.
Nathan is in his room, crying. Mara comes in and asks him what is wrong. She then sees the photos and pieces it together. “Are you my mother?” Nathan asks. Mara is hesitant, but tells him no. But that doesn’t change how much she cares for him. “There is so much you don’t know,” Mara tells him. She needs to get Kevin, because it involves him too. Mara hugs Nathan and tells him how much she loves him, and nothing will change that. She leaves crying.

Nathan calls Karen and tells her he was right. He tells her to come around the backyard, so they can talk more.

Mara is downstairs crying, when she hears a knock on the door. She composes herself and answers. Two agents of youth affairs claim something is wrong, and they need to speak to Nathan. Mara sees right through it, and tries to slam the door. The two agents break in, and they begin to beat her up. Mara pulls herself together and begins to fight them, throwing one through the window and stabbing the other with hedge clippers. “You are not taking my son!” Mara screams. The one that crashed through the window, pulls a gun and shoots Mara dead, right in front of Nathan. Nathan runs back into his room, while the agents search for him. Karen in the backyard and has seen the entire thing. She tries to stay hidden.

Kevin is in his shop, oblivious to what occurred. He sees the car outside the house, and realizes something is wrong.

Nathan dashes back into his room and crawls out the window while one of the agents searches for him. Meanwhile in the kitchen, one of the agents is attacked by Kevin. They engage in hand to hand combat, and Kevin eventually wins and snaps the agent’s neck. Kevin sees Mara’s dead body and holds her in his arms, sobbing. Kevin sees Nathan and tells him to run. Kevin is killed by the remaining agent and Nathan runs off before realizing Karen was meeting him. He races back.

Karen was caught by the agent and is about to be executed by him when Nathan interferes. He quickly disarms him with a kick and beats him to the ground. Karen picks up a fire poker as the agents squirms on the ground. Looking at his dead parents, Nathan seethes with rages and beats the man within an inch of death. Nathan wants answers from him, but the man reveals they put a bomb in the house. Nathan and Karen confirm it with only seconds remaining. They rush out just before the bomb explodes. They jump in the pool to avoid the ensuing fireball.

Nathan and Karen race off on his motorcycle. When Karen complains of something wrong with her arm, Nathan takes her to the hospital. There, Nathan tries to call 911 about his parents’ murder, but is patched into another line where the man on the line knows his name. The man is Frank Burton (Alfred Molina) a CIA director that worked with his father. Burton tells Nathan he will have to trust him. Nathan replies, “Trust has to be earned.” (something Mara told him earlier).
Kozlow’s men intercept the call. They race for the hospital.

Nathan is about to recover Karen when Bennett arrives, claiming to work with his father, his “real” father. Nathan tries to ask what is going on, but Bennett says they don’t have time for that. They collect Karen, and they evade both Kozlow’s men and the security cameras that the CIA is using to track Nathan. They are able to get out of the hospital, but they are soon being chased by CIA agents.

In the car, Bennett explains that Kevin and Mara were placed with him in order to protect him. Nathan says he spoke to Frank Burton, and Bennett says only four people knew where he was. Bennett, Burton, Kevin, and Mara. “Two of those are dead,” she says. She tells him that he cannot trust Burton.

Bennett gives Nathan an address for a safe house in Arlington, VA and tells him to wait there until help arrives. Bennett tells him that he can trust only two people: Martin Price and Paul Rasen. Bennett wants Nathan to go alone, saying Karen will only slow him down, but Nathan won’t leave her. Bennett slows down enough so that Nathan and Karen can jump out, and Bennett races off. They later see an explosion, apparently Bennett’s car. Now thinking they are alone, Nathan and Karen, swim across the river to elude capture. Afterwards, Nathan steals some blankets, and they set up camp in the woods to sleep.

In the morning, Nathan wants Karen to go home since they are not looking for her. Karen scoffs at that; she has no one to go home to right now and she could be used as leverage against him. Nathan says everyone is dying around him, and he doesn’t want her to get hurt too. Nevertheless, they stick together. They flag down a trucker who gives them a ride to Arlington.

Burton briefs his CIA coworkers. Martin Price (Dermot Mulroney) was their best operative. A while back, Price stole a list of names from Kozlow that detailed people who sold state secrets. Now Kozlow wants it back and is killing everyone around Nathan (including Kevin and Mara) in order to get it back. They need to get Nathan in their custody before it is too late. If they do not, and Kozlow gets him, it will put Martin in a bad situation (as he will have to bargain secrets for his son). Burton is accosted by his higher up boss, telling him to handle the situation.

Nathan and Karen arrive at the safe house and clean themselves up. Nathan finds some photos, stacks of cash and a gun in a desk. One of the photos is Lora Price and an address. Nathan realizes she is the woman that he keeps seeing. She is his mother. “This is Martin Price’s apartment,” he tells Karen. Karen tries to use the phone to call her uncle. But the phone has been tapped by the CIA. Burton answers and tells Nathan that he has to come in. Nathan hangs up and says they have to leave since the safe house is now compromised. They find keys to a nice car and drive off to find where Lora Price lives.

When they arrive at the address, they find a graveyard. Karen ponders if they got the address wrong. Nathan notes the address wasn’t a residence, it was a plot number. Lora is dead. They go to her plot, and Nathan mentions the irony of the situation. He never knew either of his mothers. Mara was a enigma, and he has no clue how much she sacrificed to protect him, and the only place he knows Lora is an a dream where she is murdered. Nathan is mad that it is a dead end but Karen notices fresh flowers. They go to an office and Karen flirts with the clerk to get him to turn over the information on who sent the flowers. It turns out it was from a “Paul Rasen” from Nebraska.

Both the CIA and Kozlow’s men see that Nathan inquired about Lora Price. They know where they are headed next.
Nathan and Karen drive off. Nathan notes that they have been in the car too long and heads to the train station. Gilly is there and shows he made them several fake IDs to get them through checkpoints. Karen and Nathan board a train. However, so does Kozlow’s right hand man.

Nathan and Karen enter their cabin and note it will only be a night. Karen asks him about the time their families went to the lake house in eighth grade. It seemed they were proceeding on to being BF/GF, but then school started, and he ignored her. Nathan sighs and says he though it was just going to be the summer and nothing more. They exchange a few more words about their relationship and start to make out. It gets hot and heavy and seems to be proceeding to sex, when Karen pulls back and says they should probably get some food. Nathan nods, understanding. “I’m starving,” he says. Karen says she’ll knock twice before entering so she’ll know it’s him. Nathan sits and smiles.

Karen goes to get food from the cafeteria while Kozlow’s man is right behind. He suddenly grabs her and drags her into an empty car. He pulls a gun on her and threatens to cut off one of her fingers if she does not tell him what room Nathan is in.
Nathan notices Karen has been gone for awhile. He goes to look for her.

Kozlow’s man searches Nathan’s cabin but doesn’t find him there. Nathan shows up and notices the curtain in the door. He ducks into another cabin and waits for the man to leave before darting back into his room. Kozlow’s man sees this and Nathan shuts the door on his hand. The man gets through and begins to pummel Nathan. He holds him in a choke hold and taunts Nathan’s age. Nathan starts to remember the training Kevin gave him and overpowers Klasgow’s man, knocking him out.

Karen, tied up, is able to break a glass and uses a shard to cut herself free.

Nathan breaks the train window and throws Kozlow’s man out of it. Karen comes back in as he does it and her and Nathan hug. The train suddenly brakes (probably due to Kozlow’s man being thrown out), and they escape in the confusion.
–
Nathan talks to Karen, and tells her that all the training his dad (Kevin) put him through was so he would be prepared in case something bad happened.

Burton comes to the train site and sees the body of the unconscious Kozlow agent. “He sure is Martin’s fucking kid,” Burton says. He drives off, still looking for him.

Nathan and Karen are walking on the road when they are spotted by Burton and his men. They try to run, but Burton stops him. Burton says they are here to help them, and that is clear since they don’t have guns pointed at them. Nathan asks what his real name is. Burton tells him Nathan Price. “Steven,” Nathan says. Burton says that is his middle name. His parents debated it, but his mother thought Nathan was a better first name. Burton says he was there when he was born. Burton just wants to talk and offers to feed the two.

They take Nathan and Karen to a diner while armed guards wait outside. Nathan wants to know what is going on. Burton says Martin Price was the best operative they had. In the war of today’s spies, it isn’t bullets and bombs, it is information. Martin stole a list of names from Kozlow, and he wants it back. He had used fake missing child ads to spring a trap and kidnap Nathan and use him as a bargaining chip. Nathan looks at a cell phone he took from Martin’s apartment. It has the list. “Your name is on the list,” Nathan deduces, realizing Bennett was right; Burton couldn’t be trusted. Burton says he has a vivid imagination.
Kozlow and two of his men kill all of Burton’s guards. One guard notices and screams a warning before he is killed. Kozlow fires at the diner and Burton and Nathan duck for cover. Nathan and Karen escape in the fracas, while Burton and a fellow agent play dead. When Kozlow’s two men check the diner, Burton and his coworker shoot them dead.
Nathan and Karen drive off in a hot-wired car. Nathan tells her that everything that has happened (them going on the run, Kevin and Mara being murdered), was because Kozlow wanted a list of names back. A phone rings. It is one Nathan took off the thug on the train. Kozlow answers and tells him unless he hands over the list, he will murder everyone around Nathan, starting with Karen’s parents. Nathan agrees to an exchange, but on his terms; he will set the location. Somewhere public.
Meanwhile, in the hotel room where Kozlow’s tech team had set up shop, one of the men realizes they have been traced. He wakes up the men just as a SWAT team busts in. They are all killed.
Burton hears the news about the dead Russians as they head towards where the drop will be for the list.
Nathan and Karen head for the baseball stadium for the Pirates game. They meet up with Gilly again who gives them a VIP ticket. Nathan heads off. He gets a call. It is Martin, his real father. Martin tells him to back off and not do the exchange for Kozlow will kill him anyway. Martin says he knows Nathan has been through a lot in the past day, “Enough to make seasoned agents crack,” but he needs to stop. Nathan refuses to listen telling him that he had fifteen years to care. He hangs up.
Kozlow shows up at the stadium. Nathan calls and tells him that a ticket is under a statue. Karen is nearby taking photos, and sends them to Nathan. Now he knows who he is dealing with. Karen heads back out of the stadium and sits in a car with Gilly, hoping for the best.
–
Nathan and Kozlow sit in the stadium together. We see why Nathan wanted these specific seats. He has a gun taped under his seat. He intends to kill Kozlow. He cocks it as Kozlow talks. Kozlow then begins to tell Nathan about his real parents. Nathan uncocks the gun and places back in the holster under the seat. Martin is a Class 5 operative meaning he could supersede the Geneva convention and do whatever it took to get the job done. As for his mother she was “stubborn.” Kozlow reveals he is the one who killed Nathan’s mother though he never intended to, and he never knew Nathan was under the bed at the time. Nathan remembers the rest of the memory. His mother struggled with Kozlow, but fought with him to knock away his gas mask, so Nathan wouldn’t breathe in the smoke.
Nathan reaches for the gun again, but it is gone. “Looking for this?” Kozlow notes, holding the gun to Nathan now. Kozlow says he wants the list NOW. Nathan refuses and quickly jumps up and races off. The CIA agents planted throughout the stadium notice this, and begin to follow them both.

Nathan and Kozlow race through the stadium, crashing into dozens of people. Holing up in a gift shop, Nathan gets another call from Martin. Martin tells Nathan he has to bring Kozlow out into the open. Nathan asks him why he would do that, if it will mean he will die. “Because I’m right here, Nathan.” Martin tells him. We see a figure (Martin) running in a parking garage with a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder.

Nathan comes out of hiding and lets himself be seen by Kozlow. Kozlow gives chase but is being outrun by Nathan. Nathan sees a glass archway and slides down it, grabbing the edge at the end. He jumps down and injures his leg. He continues to run as fast as possible, limping all the way.

Nathan gets out to the parking lot with Kozlow not far behind. Having enough, Kozlow shouts for Nathan to stop or he will shoot. Nathan stops and faces him. Kozlow says he isn’t as good as his father. “You sure about that?” Nathan asks. Kozlow looks at him with confusion then sees a sun reflection off of Martin’s sniper scope. “MARTIN!” Kozlow screams, aiming his gun at Nathan, but Martin is quicker, taking Kozlow out with a single shot to the chest.

Burton, along with several CIA agents take Nathan into custody as Nathan gets a call from Martin. A higher up asks Burton to hand over the list, but Burton says he will take it for decryption personally. His boss then reveals Martin warned him that if Burton wanted to handle the decryption himself, then it meant he was dirty and wanted to remove his name off the list. The higher-up arrests Burton, and lets Nathan go.

Nathan is given the phone back and talks to Martin. Martin tells Nathan that he is sorry for all that he put him through, but he did it all for his protection. Nathan asks to see him, but Martin says it’s too dangerous. “Martin?…Dad?” Nathan says, tearing up. Martin sighs and says, “I’m your father Nathan, but I’ll never be your dad. I gave up that right years ago.” Nathan asks where he is. Martin says he is nearby, watching, as he always has. Nathan sees a quick glimpse of the man that could be Martin, but he slips away in the crowds.

Karen meets up with Nathan again, and they hug. Nathan sees Dr. Bennett in the distance. Bennett says hello and tells him that she’d rather be referred to as “Gerry.” Bennett says she has talked to his father about living arrangements for him. “Nothing can replace Kevin and Mara,” Nathan says, (signifying that despite everything he learned about them, he did care for/love them). Bennett says perhaps he can live with her until he finishes high school. After that, he can go to college and live his life. Nathan agrees to that. Nathan and Karen head off for some time alone and Bennett tells Nathan she was wrong about Karen; she is one worth holding on to.

Nathan and Karen sit in the empty stadium, lamenting they missed the game. Nathan offers to take her to another one, and Karen notes that would be a date. Karen laughs and says it will not be like eighth grade. Nathan nods and notes that, despite the craziness, the past day they had was a “hell of a first date.” They proceed to make out.

Roll Credits.