Missing Review
A taut and engaging thriller that’s a blast if you are OK with the format.
When June’s (Storm Reid) mother Grace (Nia Long) goes missing on a Colombian holiday with her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung), she finds herself doing everything she can to try and track her down. Still bereft over the loss of her father James (Tim Griffin), she partners with a taskrabbit down in Colombia, Javi (Joaquim de Almelda), to find her lost mother.
Directed by Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, Missing follows the same format of their hit 2018 film Searching. The entire film is generally told through the conceit of a laptop and/or phone screen, including copious use of the webcam, whatsapp, and news station broadcasts. If you liked Searching, there’s a good chance you’ll like Missing.
From a plot perspective, Missing really throws you from side to side with a tonne of twists, turns and surprises. If you let yourself be taken along for the ride, it is a real blast. The story also feels a little more fun, and a little less morbid perhaps, than Searching. The relationship between June and Javi is quite fun and funny, but also very sweet, and the one between June and Grace is strong narratively.
Reid is fantastic in the lead role. She is both strong, ingenious and vulnerable, and she makes the leaps of logic and frankly miraculous level of searching that she does from her desktop slightly believable. She also really sells the relationship with de Almelda’s Javi, although to be fair she is ably assisted by de Almelda.
In the end, Missing isn’t reinventing the wheel. It’s going a way to perfecting the inventive Searching, by adding a stronger plot, reducing the character count and upping the creativity around the search that is undertaken. It’s a solid thriller, and it's plenty of fun.
