Missing movie review: A solid thriller that keeps you guessing
By Ricky Valero
A standalone sequel to the 2018 smash-hit Searching is hitting theaters in Missing. Can the film capture the magic of the first one? Or will it fail to connect the dots? Let’s dive in.
Missing follows the story of June, whose mother disappeared while vacationing with her new boyfriend in Colombia. While June starts to hunt down answers, she starts to peel back more and more layers that she wasn’t expecting. The film was written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, with Storm Reid and Nia Long starring as the mother/daughter duo.
The film starts with viewers seeing someone watching a video of a young June with her mother and father. Shortly after that, we realize that June has been dealing for many years with her father’s passing. Then, we see June and her mother’s relationship isn’t great as June is a bit of a bratty teenager while Grace is slightly overbearing. Grace and her new boyfriend, Kevin, are off to Colombia and all June cares about are the parties she plans to throw while they’re gone.
Now, I don’t like watching trailers ahead of movies because I feel like they give too much away. However, while I was sitting down and getting ready to watch M3GAN, this trailer popped up. I remember seeing it and saying, “oh, they gave away the whole movie in the trailer.” Thankfully, I can report that what’s shown in the trailer is one big facade of what’s going on. Of course, I won’t divulge anything about the twists, as you should experience that for yourself.
Storm Reid carries Missing, a solid thriller with twists
Speaking of the twists, these are the most important parts of a thriller because if they’re great, the movie will be great, but if they’re bad, you’re left with a sour taste in your mouth. Sadly, I felt like the latter watching this film. While I didn’t mind the twists, I thought how they handled them was a little underwhelming. Nevertheless, I credit Johnson and Merrick for coming up with some great twists you truly don’t see coming.
If you watched Searching, you know most of this is shot so it feels like you’re watching on a device of some kind. I love that about this film, another film like this from the same production company, Profile, came out a few years ago. I highly recommend it. That said, you know that the focal point is of June, and she’s basically a one-person show throughout the film. So Storm Reid is left to carry the movie on her back, and she does just that. She had some raw emotion that made you empathize and cheer her on. Her sidekick Javi played by Joaquim de Almeida was pretty awesome too.
Overall, Missing has a strong first two acts, but after the big reveal, the movie falls off a cliff. I will say to see this with an audience, they were invested in the whole film, twists and all. I give this a slight recommendation to catch it in theaters and preferably in theaters with a crowd.
Missing hits theaters on January 20, 2022.