What immediately catches your eye while watching The Abandoned is the fierce editing (by Liao Ching-Song and Lee Chun Hong). The cuts are abrasive and come so suddenly that you feel as if you have been hit by a knife. It's jolting how the movie cuts from the shot of a red box falling to the shot of a camera taking a picture. Director Tseng Ying-ting doesn't want us to rest. He keeps us alert as if wanting to tell us that a serial killer could possibly be lurking in our surroundings. It's not just the characters who should be vigilant, but the viewers, too, should keep their eyes open. The unexpected arrival of some images also indicates how certain events can trigger traumatic memories within a person. All this means that The Abandoned is suspenseful and thrilling, and in some places, it makes you uneasy.
All these qualities are expected from a crime film, though what's also surprising about the movie is how funny it can be during certain moments. The comedy does not puncture the effectiveness of the tense atmosphere. Rather, it's organically generated from the mayhem, which is evident from a chase sequence where three characters try to control a stressed suspect. At first, I was unimpressed by Chloe Xiang's rookie cop. Her clumsiness is used to produce laughs, but you feel as if she is trying too hard. Xiang, however, slowly becomes bearable. Ethan Juan, as Lin You-sheng, gives everything he's got. I liked him during the scene where he puts down one page after another on the table and tells the police officers that he doesn't recognize anyone. Juan puts across You-sheng's heartbreak very well.
Speaking of heartbreak, we have a police officer named Wu Jie (Janine Chang) who comes with her own tragic past. Chang has an incredible crying face, which makes her look extremely vulnerable. When tears fall from her eyes, you think she is not performing for the camera. That she is actually deriving sadness from some personal memory of hers. There is another good performance from another actor, but I can't talk about him in detail as it would lead to spoilers. I will just mention that his madness has a discomforting aura around it.
Many crime thrillers raise your expectations only to disappoint you during the revelation. The Abandoned, fortunately, has a nice twist towards the end regarding the identity of the killer. It's all done with competence. Wu Jie's, as well as the killer's backstory, is simply serviceable. It just provides them with a motive/gives them a trait. Ying-ting has come up with a well-oiled machine. All the parts move smoothly. I wish the images had been imbued with a sense of ugliness instead of looking so...clean (Stanley Liu and Liu Chen-Wei are the cinematographers). Nevertheless, this is a very entertaining film.
Final Score- [7.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
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Publisher at Midgard Times