About the film (courtesy of Screen Gems):
When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But she digs ever, her digital sleuthing soon raises more questions than answers…and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.
Before even viewing the trailer for Missing, I was already sold upon learning that the minds being Searching (2018) are also responsible for the writing of this latest edge-of-your-seat thriller. With my review of its predecessor receiving high marks, the bar is definitely raised for this one after being blindsided four-plus years ago. With expectations and awareness raised a second time around, let’s see how this one fares.
June (Storm Reid) is living a typical teenage life when her mom (Nia Long) and boyfriend (Ken Leung) vanish while on a trip to Columbia. The race is on for June to connect the dots while attempting to figure out what has happened to her mom. Missing is a briskly paced dramatic thriller that deftly navigated by a very talented Storm Reid. This story preys on one of our worst nightmares of a loved one just disappearing without an obvious trace. But it’s in the hidden areas where this story really pulls its viewers in.
The directing tandem of Nick Johnson and Will Merrick do an outstanding job of framing this story in such a fashion to only show you what you need to see when you need to see it. Working from the story written by Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty, Missing is a time released layered web of misdirection and discovery. Clocking in at 111 minutes, the pacing is slow enough to allow your mind time to digest plot points in just enough time to process, but not enough to overthink before throwing the next tasty morsel on your plate. By the film’s end, you’ll find that your senses were fed a complete and delicious meal.
There’s something to be said for this type of blended filmography where at times you feel as though you’re watching a movie while other times you feel like a voyeur witnessing events unfolding in real time. Missing most definitely takes a more immersive approach, with the more you allow yourself to pulled in, I believe the more pleasure you’ll gain from your experience. As stated earlier, being a fan of Searching (2018) allowed me to introspective while taking in everything that is being thrown my way on screen.
I will say that going into Missing completely blind would probably be a treat in its own right since you’d have no idea where this journey would be taking you. As long as you can avoid spoilers, this is a worthwhile investment for both your time and your money. And I can’t express this enough, if you yet to see the other movie I mentioned, please check it out at some point. For now however, you can see Missing in theaters this Friday, January 20th, with earlier showtimes in select theaters on Thursday.
