The Abandoned

The Abandoned didn't stand out in the list of possibilities. Its premise might call your attention if you are looking for a thriller, mainly because the premise feels serious, and the genre is the classic "who is the killer and why." Struggling to cope with the death of her partner, grieving deputy chief Wu Jie stumbles upon the work of a serial killer. Now she must solve the case before another girl gets killed.

The Abandoned follows classic mystery thriller elements, with some detective work and suspects. The climax is figuring out who is the killer and, of course, why he is the killer. It's your generic "whydunit" that The Abandoned executes well enough, entertaining if you want to watch a serious mystery thriller set on Taiwan.

The theme of dealing with loss of loved ones and betrayal are present throughout the movie. All relevant characters deal with some form of the theme, one believes one is guilty for one's loss, one believes one is right for standing his ground against one's loss, one believes one is right for murdering women that one believes are personifications of one's loss. Although the theme is present and strong during character development, the theme is not the focus; the focus is figuring out the serial killer.

The characters are variations of how one would deal with the theme. Main character Wu Jie is the character that feels she is responsible for her loss. Drama is real and effective as expected, but I felt that Wu Jie just abruptly embraces the case and her new partner Wei-shan. They didn't really share any relevant relationship, and Wu Jie, who in the beginning was reluctant about accepting hew new partner, out of the blue defends her, which feels a bit odd. The rest of her development is fine.

The interactions between the characters are alright. The dialogue feels believable, except for Wu Jie's sudden change from "I don't want to work anymore" to "let me work with Wei-shan and solve this case".

Police procedural is a bit absent in The Abandoned. Most of the investigation development happens in dialogue. Wu jei and Wei-shan figure out pieces of the puzzle and communicate.

The story takes place in suburban Taiwanese district. Nothing stands out in cinematography elements or in soundtrack: regular movie style.

Perhaps the only flaw in The Abandoned is that the list of suspects is small. Honestly, we get only three main suspects, which Wu Jei and Wei-shan dismisses quickly through detective work. When we get to the killer revelation, we feel a bit cheated.

The Abandoned does not reinvent the wheel. The story is purely entertainment.

Overall, The Abandoned is amusing for a quick mystery thriller entertainment. The movie does not raise any new factor or try to be innovative; it tries to tell a story to entertain, and it delivers alright.

The story is interesting and the plot pulls you in even though it's not exactly surprising in terms of who did what, to whom and why. This is, in the end, a pretty standard "whodunnit". Found the actors' portrayal of the characters quite good and ended up researching more of their work precisely because of it. I was a bit annoyed by how incompetent the main character came across at times but thought I'd give her the benefit of the doubt since she was going through emotional trauma and pain. That being said, her boss was way more patient than most would have been. The younger police officer was funny and charming so I enjoyed their adding her to the story for a bit of an edge.

I hope Justin Timberlake can forgive - on the other hand, maybe someone else will have done something with this title/phrase by the time you read this - and I do not even have to worry about telling you no pun intended ... until then, let's stay and stick with the thriller at hand. That has the inciting incident .... you guessed it right: at a river.

So if you like crime thrillers this already has some bonus or brownie points (or whatever is more to your liking). I have seen better movies than this of course, but this is at least decent, nominations can be an indicator for that too. Well shot and acted, the movie has a good pace and is well worth a watch - for those interested in a murder (mystery) story, that may be a bit different (though no entirely unpredictable)

They could have toned down the frequency of those flashbacks, because there were too many and they literally ruined the movie for me, they were so inconsistent and at times unnecessary too breaking the flow of the movie. But yeah you can give this a shot and you might even love this because they have created a good dark atmosphere around the plot which is really captivating and it compliments the story well. You may find the central reason of the plot (as to why the killer is killing) to be too silly but yeah the atmosphere that was created and the acting overshadows it. If you're looking for a decent serial killer mystery this is worth looking into.

Cha wu ci xin (The Abandoned) was one of the movies that I was waiting to watch. I had high expectations from this movie but my expectations did not match after watching the movie's ending. I can tell you that it is a really good movie until the ending of it. Janine Chang is a really good actress and I think that she should appear in TV Series and movies of the West. Nevertheless, I cannot say the same for Chloe Xiang because she is really overacting and it is obvious. The atmosphere of this movie is a bit depressive and if you are suicidal, you should stay away from this movie. I give 5 points out of 10 for this one because of it's ending. It could be much much better if the movie had a different ending and less emphasis on suicidal tendencies.