Flat teenage melodrama meets off the mark assassination thriller in the woefully made Abduction.

How many ways can a movie fail? That may be a rhetorical question, but in the case of Abduction let’s make a checklist: Acting? Fail. Direction? Fail. Writing? Fail. Post Twilight leading man outing? Double fail.

That right there sums up Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner’s first test as a leading man in Abduction.

Lautner star as Nathan, a typical teen goofball who lives in upper middle class suburbia with loving but strict parents Mara (Marion Bello) and Kevin (Jason Isaacs). When Nathan finds out that he is in fact the son of a CIA black ops assassin and that Russian spies are after him, Nathan goes on the run with high school crush Karen (Lilly Collins) in search for the truth.

On paper Abduction should have something going for it, with hot up and coming actor surrounded by veteran supporting cast, and directed by a critically lauded filmmaker in Oscar nominated John Singleton.

Yet there is one element which was not figured into the equation: Not only does Lautner lack charisma, but he seems to have the magic skill of lowering the talent level of the people working around him.

Lautner has never been praised for his thespian prowess. He simply looks good with his shirt off and can kick butt convincingly. Nothing wrong with that, action stars have been doing it for years.

The failure of Abduction is its insistence of having Lautner flex dramatic muscles he simply has yet to develop. Have him act against Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina, and no good will come from it.

A lot of the blame should fall on Singleton’s head.  As the director it is his job to know Lautner’s weaknesses and work around them, not present them front and centre. Singleton also fails to create action scenes which can distract from Lautner’s poor dramatic chops, with the film instead plodding along with little tension and intrigue, only to climax with a whimper instead of a bang.

Worse are the scenes shared between Lautner and Lilly Collins, with acting akin to an afterschool special and the dialogue to match, courtesy of screenwriter Shane Christensen.

There is simply nothing of worth in Abduction. Lautner understandably wants to exploit his new found fame with his own film, but Abduction will not give him the type of career push he needs. Time to scrap current career plans and re-think the strategy.