Movie Review - Missing

Director: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick
Genre: Crime/ Thriller/ Drama
Runtime: 111 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Tim Griffin, Daniel Henney
 
Description: After her mother (Nia Long) goes missing, June (Storm Reid) tries to find her from home, using tools available to her online.

Review: In 2018, the thriller “Searching” was released in which a father used modern (social) media and apps to search for his missing daughter. The viewer was only shown his online activities and the format was original and the story had some surprising twists. Four and a half years later, the same creators release “Missing”. Same format, new characters, different story. And again, lots of surprises and just as entertaining.

This time it revolves around teenager June, who maintains a troubled relationship with her overprotective mother Grace after the death of her father. When Grace undertakes a romantic trip to Colombia with her new boyfriend, June is happy to have a moment of total abandonment. But when she wakes up on the day she has to pick her mother up from the airport, Grace and her boyfriend never show up.

We get right into the mystery, just little introduction, but that’s not needed. It’s very clear that Grace and June have a rocky relationship. When June realizes her mother is missing, she starts her own investigation.

Directors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick do not take a moment to slow down with their screenplay and make you increasingly curious about the true circumstances of the disappearance. The screens, apps, chats, cameras, searches, facetime calls and messages all pass by, but the filmmakers manage to convey the information to the audience in an orderly fashion.

The story constantly leads us in certain directions, eventually taking a different path and ending with a twist that you could not see coming. Even when the clues were there, at the time of seeing them, you don’t know how to place them in the story yet.

“Missing” is, just like “Searching”, a well-crafted thriller with some strong plot twists and a really solid Storm Reid as the lead.  If you enjoyed “Searching” you will feel the same about “Missing”.

Rating: 4,5/ 5