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For as long as he can remember, Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) has had the uneasy feeling that he's living someone else's life. When he stumbles upon an image of himself as a little boy on a missing persons website, all of Nathan's darkest fears come true: he realizes his parents are not his own and his life is a lie, carefully fabricated to hide something more mysterious and dangerous than he could have ever imagined. Just as he begins to piece together his true identity, Nathan is targeted by a team of trained killers, forcing him on the run with the only person he can trust, his neighbor, Karen (Lily Collins). Every second counts as Nathan and Karen race to evade an army of assassins and federal operatives. But as his opponents close in, Nathan realizes that the only way he'll survive and solve the mystery of his elusive biological father is to stop running and take matters into his own hands. -- (C) Lionsgate

Storyline

A thriller centered on a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website.



Taglines

What if your entire life was a lie?

The fight for the truth will be the fight of his life.

Review

by Andrew L. Urban

The notion of discovering a secret about yourself on the internet is a great premise on which to build a thriller, especially one whose central character is a teen. Twilight-launched Taylor Lautner gets his first genuine, gold plated leading role as Nathan, the teen who discovers that he was adopted by the people he thought were his parents. But the story isn't something out of that excellent, fact based drama, Oranges and Sunshine, where the identity of the parents is the all-important thing. In Shawn Christensen's cleverly structured screenplay, it's why he isn't living with his biological parents that gives the film its impetus.

The early scenes establish Nathan as a typical teenager, doing risky, stupid things on motorised transport, getting drunk and passing out. His dad (Jason Isaacs) makes him train his boxing skills even when hung over - and we later learn there is a good reason for this.

The film then jumps into real thriller mode and piles on the tension right to the end, as Nathan is dragged into deadly danger. Rogue black ops agent Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist in grim good form as a nasty) wants him as a bargaining chip - and for a top secret list of agents, which the CIA is also keen to obtain.

We learn bits and pieces of Nathan's past as it relates to his parents, all the while he and Karen (Lily Collins) are on the run, but not unobserved. Collins does well as the teenager thrust into this drama, albeit there is not much demanded of her. The surrounding support cast of top notch talent such as Maria Bello and Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver, help make Lautner look good. And he does once take off his shirt, but director John Singleton chooses to show only a modest portion of his now famous torso.

Also worth a mention is Denzel Whitaker as Nathan's friend and ally Gilly, who shows great promise even with the little screen time he has.

Singleton tackles the film like a Jason Bourne thriller, much to Lautner's joy; it's his reported dream to play such a role. The film offers an undemanding, escapist 106 minutes, with a variety of stunts and chases. There are a couple of surprises and a few slightly cheesy moments, but it essentially does what it is meant to.

Published first in the Sun Herald