Missing

Finally, a January abduction movie where Liam Neeson’s family isn’t endangered for once.

Cast of Characters:
June Allen – Storm Reid
Javier Ramos – Joaquim de Almeida
Kevin Lin – Ken Leung
Heather – Amy Landecker
Agent Elijah Park – Daniel Henney
Grace Allen – Nia Long

Director – Will Merrick & Nick Johnson
Writer – Nick Johnson & Will Merrick
Producer – Natalie Qasabian, Sev Ohanian & Aneesh Chaganty
Distributor – Sony Pictures Releasing
Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material.

The Rundown: Things have never been the same for June Allen (Storm Reid) since her father passed away, and her overbearing mom Grace (Nia Long) hasn’t made things easier for her by moving on with a new boyfriend, Kevin Lin (Ken Leung).

Well, geez, June. Your mom deserves happiness too. The world revolves around the sun, not June Allen. And for God’s sake, clear out your voice mail and return some of her calls and maybe she’ll ease up on you.

Finally getting a much-deserved break, Grace and Kevin book a trip down to cocaine capital of the world Colombia, which is great news for June ’cause that means she can throw some bitchin’ ragers while she’s gone. Grace just has one simple request, though, and that’s to pick them up at the airport when they return home.

When the day of Grace and Kevin’s return arrives, June makes an uncharacteristic move of actually doing what her mom tells her to do, and shows up to the airport, as requested. However, neither her mom nor Kevin are there. June tries to call her, but gets no response. FaceTime returns no response either. She finally gets a hold of someone at the Colombian hotel her mom was staying at, only to learn that her mom has disappeared with Kevin and left everything behind at the hotel.

Sick burn, mom.

Worried over her mother’s whereabouts, June takes to the web to search for her, connecting with a local Colombian, Javier Ramos (Joaquim de Almeida) to help with her DIY investigation.

Initial Thoughts: While it’s fair to say that no one was screaming for a sequel to 2018’s Searching, it’s understandable why Sony would green-light one. The film received strong critical praise, and made back over $75 million on its miniscule $800-900k production budget, making it, to date, the highest grossing screenlife film (a sub-genre of the found footage format where the events are shown through either a computer, tablet or smartphone).

I mean, c’mon. It’s elementary, my dear Watson. If not for COVID getting in the way, they’d have ten sequels out by now.

Development on Searching’s sequel began in 2019, with the original film’s director, Aneesh Chaganty, stating that this would be a completely different story bearing no connection to the original. After a few production roadblocks, thanks to that pesky little COVID virus, Missing has finally made its way to the big screen, with Chaganty serving as just a producer this time around and original film’s editors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson taking over writing and directing duties.

Searching not only turned out to be a pleasant surprise, it was one of the best films of 2018. John Cho’s performance is arguably the best of his career, and just the opening montage alone packs enough of an emotional wallop to rival even Up’s heartbreaking intro. No doubt, Missing has a tough act to follow, and while it definitely has its strong points, the overall result ends up being just okay.

The Good: While it’d be easy to criticize this film for lacking the novelty of Searching, one could levy the same argument against that 2018 film for following the 2014 screenlife horror film Unfriended. Despite covering familiar territory, on its own merits, Missing is mostly able to deliver thrills and a few effective plot turns for about two-thirds of the way (more on that in a minute), opening with a solid setup that ratchets up the tension as its central mystery unfolds. Chaganty’s touch from the first film may be “missing” here, but Merrick and Johnson are fine replacements that utilize their crafty editing skills to keep this thriller moving at a zippy, breakneck pace.

Missing also brings an interesting role reversal by switching the perspective from Searching’s father looking for his missing daughter to now the teenage daughter searching for her mother. Additionally, the film briefly touches on how the recent TikTok/podcast craze oftentimes leads to many latching onto and exploiting a tragedy for their own personal gain, most notably shown in two brief, bookended Netflix-esque true crime docudrama adaptations of both Searching and Missing’s tragedies. While this is an area the film should’ve explored further than it goes, it does provide a brief but timely statement on our very speculative society’s obsession with current tragedy.

Much like John Cho in the first film, Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time, 2020’s The Invisible Man) is tasked with carrying most of the film, and the young actress does not disappoint. Some may very reasonably question the credibility of an L.A. teen coming equipped with the online hacking skills of an entire Russian cyber-terrorist ring, but Reid has a very likable presence and brings a genuine sense of resourcefulness to her character. Yes, unlike that killer robot doll M3GAN gleefully reminding us of the dangers of technology, June here quickly shows us the good and potentially life-saving possibilities that can come from it. There’s also a wonderful rapport between her and Joaquim de Almeida as a Colombian TaskRabbit errand runner who helps June search for her mother. Throughout his career, De Almeida has typically been typecast as corrupt villains like seedy politicians or cartel leaders, so it’s nice to see the actor take a break from that for a refreshingly lighter role that allows him to bring some much-needed warmth and levity to his scenes.

The Bad: At times, Merrick and Johnson get a little carried away with some of the stylistic flourishes they sprinkle around the film, which leads to some conceit cheating. Sure, the quick zooming through a Google map looks nifty, but it goes against the grain of the film’s screenlife format, causing it to feel a little off compared to the rest of the film.

However, such format contradictions are just minor visual distractions compared to Missing’s primary drawback when the third-act arrives and sends the film completely off the rails through a series twists that would make even M. Night Shyamalan blush. I’ll play nice and spare you any spoilers, but it’s definitely one twist too many, and each subsequent one gets more far-fetched than the one before it. Granted, Searching also pulled out a climactic twist, and one could perhaps argue that it, too, required a little suspension of disbelief, but even then, Searching still managed to keep its grounded nature in tact, whereas Missing’s climax completely unravels at the seams and undoes all sense of realism that it was trying to achieve.

Oddly enough, the film essentially devolves into the very tacky, sensationalized true crime schlock it’s taking jabs at during its beginning and ending.

The Ugly: The FBI’s reputation. You are somehow getting outpaced in this investigation by a snippy little teenage girl with a Macbook. Get your shit together, guys.

Consensus: Missing may not live up to its 2018 predecessor due to a third-act that falls apart, but fine performances and enough thrills in the first two acts still make this a passable diversion.

Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give Missing a B- (★★½).

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