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“ Missing ” isn’t exactly a sequel to “ Searching ,” but rather another installment in what feels like a burgeoning Searching Cinematic Universe. It features a brief reference to the mystery within the 2018 hit film during a breathless, early montage, part of an amalgamation of sights and sounds that puts us on edge from the very start.

While “Searching” was about a father looking for his daughter entirely within the confines of screens – laptops, cell phones, surveillance footage – “Missing” finds a daughter looking for her mother through the same narrative structure. Catching lightning in a bottle twice is nearly impossible, though, and “Missing” lacks the novelty of its thrillingly clever predecessor. “Searching” may have sounded like a gimmick, but it worked because it was relatable within its unnerving premise. As John Cho ’s character desperately seeks clues to his daughter’s whereabouts by investigating her online activities, we tell ourselves in the audience that we’d have the same presence of mind to follow those logical steps. Cho was tremendous in the role, which featured his face in close up nearly the entire time. There was nowhere to hide, and he revealed every glimmer of fear and hope with great nuance.

The new film from the writing/directing duo of Nick Johnson and Will Merrick , based on a story by the original “Searching” team of Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian , takes the exact same approach. It pulls off the impressive narrative highwire act but includes a couple twists too many, eventually depleting it of much of the realism that makes it so gripping for so long. But “Missing” is also zippier in a lot of ways, because the character who’s front and center is an 18-year-old high school senior who’s interacted with this kind of technology her whole life, rather than a middle-aged dad who’s figuring it out as he goes along.

Storm Reid ’s June is a master multitasker, a wizard of the World Wide Web. It’s like watching Lydia Tár conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, only with FaceTime and Venmo and Spotify. Even before her widowed mom, Grace (a lovely Nia Long ), takes off on a Colombian vacation with her new boyfriend, Kevin ( Ken Leung ), we learn so much about the way June spends her days simply by watching her skip between tabs and tap away at her keyboard. She frequently leaves on the camera on her computer, allowing us a peek inside her bedroom and the way she interacts with people IRL. Reid has a likeable, engaging screen presence, and she establishes quickly that June is both smart and a smart-ass.

But once Grace and Kevin fail to show up at LAX as scheduled – which we also see because June has set up her cell phone to capture the moment she greets them at baggage claim – her instincts and years of experience online really kick into gear. We feel her increasing terror as she struggles to communicate with the front desk clerk at a Cartagena hotel, who only speaks Spanish. But she’s such a resourceful problem solver, she realizes she can navigate this city remotely with Google maps and the help of a Taskrabbit-style errand runner for hire named Javi (Joaquim de Almeida, who brings a welcome warmth and humor to this suspenseful scenario).

With each new password she cracks, website she visits and email she reads, June raises more questions than she answers, and “Missing” makes us question these characters again and again. Guessing what’s really going on here is a lot of fun, but as Grace’s disappearance becomes national news, it’s clear Johnson and Merrick have something to say about the ghoulish nature of glomming onto tragedy. One major way “Missing” has evolved from “Searching” is the way it features podcasters and TikTokers analyzing every little detail of the case, forming ill-founded opinions and spreading conspiracy theories for their own fame and gain. It’s at once amusing and dismaying. The directors also effectively employ Ring security video, which wasn’t as prevalent when the first film came out, as a source of tension; we see just enough to know there’s more we can’t see.

But if the delightfully nutty “ M3GAN ” was a cautionary tale about the perils of relying too heavily on technology, “Missing” ends up being a celebration of its possibilities. It’s also a good reminder that we should all be using passwords that don’t include our childhood dogs’ names and kids’ birthdays.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

Missing movie poster

Missing (2023)

Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material.

111 minutes

Storm Reid as June Allen

Joaquim De Almeida as Javier

Ken Leung as Kevin Lin

Amy Landecker

Daniel Henney as Agent Elijah Park

Nia Long as Grace Allen

Megan Suri as Veena

Tim Griffin as James Allen

Thomas Barbusca as Cody

  • Nicholas D. Johnson
  • Will Merrick

Writer (story by)

  • Sev Ohanian
  • Aneesh Chaganty

Cinematographer

  • Steven Holleran
  • Austin Keeling
  • Arielle Zakowski
  • Julian Scherle

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

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When her mother goes 'Missing,' a Gen-Z teen takes up a tense search on screens

Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes

movie reviews on missing

June (Storm Reid) is on the case when her mother disappears during a vacation with her boyfriend. Temma Hankin/Sony Pictures hide caption

June (Storm Reid) is on the case when her mother disappears during a vacation with her boyfriend.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that repetition often destroys elegance.

Compare the elegance of Speed (if this bus slows down, it will blow up) with the clumsy Speed 2: Cruise Control (this cruise ship is going to very slowly run into a beach). The elegance of The Fast and the Furious (street racing is fun!) with Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson ending up in space. The elegance of Die Hard (one cop tries to rescue a building full of hostages) with ... well, any other Die Hard movie.

The 2014 horror film Unfriended , an early entry in the "screenlife" category in which everything plays out on computer screens, is formally elegant — simple, economical and effective. Mostly, you are just watching a group video call, with periodic visits to other places like Facebook or sketchy, unpleasantly believable forums where links seem like they could lead anywhere. And that video call, it turns out, is haunted, and will gradually knock off everybody on it. That's the story; that's the format. Screenlife has ties not just to "found-footage" movies (also formally elegant: The Blair Witch Project ), but to epistolary novels, too. In all these forms, the traditional telling of a story is replaced by the opportunity for the viewer/reader to examine the evidence that the story happened.

John Cho On Representation, 'Columbus' And His Need To Slip On A Few Banana Peels

John Cho On Representation, 'Columbus' And His Need To Slip On A Few Banana Peels

John Cho And Aneesh Chaganty On 'Searching'

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John cho and aneesh chaganty on 'searching'.

One of the producers of Unfriended was Timur Bekmambetov, who was also a producer of not only its follow-up Unfriended: Dark Web , but also the 2018 screenlife thriller Searching . Searching was directed by Aneesh Chaganty and stars John Cho as a father stumbling through the digital life of his teenage daughter trying to solve the mystery of her disappearance. And now, Bekmambetov is a producer of Missing , which is a flashier, snazzier, and — yes — less formally elegant project written and directed by Nick Johnson and Will Merrick, who were editors on Searching .

Missing stars Storm Reid as June, a bright and restless young woman whose mother, Grace (Nia Long), vanishes during a vacation to Colombia with her boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung). In an inversion of Searching 's tense portrayal of a father who feels helpless and adrift in the complexities of his daughter's highly connected life, Missing makes June a Gen-Z'er who knows how to get around adults who reuse their passwords, don't secure their devices, and thus leave themselves open to all manner of snooping. This is her environment; she is at home here on her screens.

It's a good thing June feels at ease with her tech, because 10 years after Unfriended , her online life has grown far more complicated than that haunted video call. She has a Ring doorbell, she has voice-activated everything, she can chat with people around the world who are not in front of their computers, she inhabits a world full of live webcams, and home security systems have boomed. Her social media life isn't about a Facebook page; it's about bits and bobs scattered all over. She's also not John Cho's David from Searching , who slowly explores one platform at a time, painstakingly dragging individual snippets of information out of the dark. June hops from window to window like a plate-spinner; following her "screenlife" investigation of her mother's disappearance is dizzying. It is her expectation that information she needs can be found somewhere, from her laptop. The editing has been accelerated and complicated by self-consciously inventive visual transitions, and regrettably, a lot of the simplicity has been lost.

The Internet Of Spooky Things Is Alive In 'Unfriended'

Movie Reviews

The internet of spooky things is alive in 'unfriended'.

There is something bracingly confident, in retrospect, about Unfriended , which plays out the boring acts of typing and scrolling in real time, the frustrations of trying over and over to click on things that cannot be clicked on. (Because it's got a virus and that virus is ... a ghost.) In classic horror style, what is unseen in that film is often more frightening than what is seen, and what is seen is limited by the format. While it's a thriller rather than a horror film, Searching , too, moves deliberately, making limited and effective use of hidden cameras, streaming, and other avenues that allow a found-footage style (more similar to Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project ) to take over from a pure screenlife style.

Much of Missing , however, particularly late in its story, is more a found-footage film than a screenlife film. It doesn't rely on messages, chats, forums, or that dance of typing and scrolling — it shows you a regular scene, but from the perspective of a camera that exists inside the story.

Missing is not a bad film; it's a good film. It's smart, Reid is terrific, the thriller elements are gripping, the twists are surprising, and some of the moments in which June outsmarts people who are trying to cut her off from information she needs are highly satisfying. At the same time, it feels, in a way that's a bit deflating, like a regression to the mean, where the repetition of this format across films (with perhaps greater and greater box-office expectations) makes them less and less formally interesting.

Storm Reid Says Making 'A Wrinkle In Time' Was 'A Dream Come True'

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Storm reid says making 'a wrinkle in time' was 'a dream come true', 'euphoria' actress storm reid talks about the show's popularity and power.

June's active, inventive exploration of online information is also, perhaps, part of the evolution of a concept that travels from the horror realm to the thriller realm, with the shift in intensity that suggests. Maybe if a thriller is about what frightens you, a horror film is about what frightens you most — that's an oversimplification and certainly not the genre definition, but it captures something about the difference between the adrenaline of thrillers and the visceral wallop of horror.

What frightens many of us most is not peril itself, but the growing sense of helplessness and hopelessness that horror does so well. What June has at her disposal is a multiplicity of tools, of new avenues to explore. Missing is a study of the ways in which the internet is full of a hundred ways to solve a problem; it's a story about bending these tools to your will. Unfriended was about the anonymous message, the blank page, the blinking cursor, the grayed-out option, the spinning ball, the baffling intrusion — online life when it doesn't work.

But it's hard not to wonder what a thriller would look like that had more faith in this format, that didn't feel so beholden to found-footage films. It's another truth universally acknowledged that limitations often spur creativity; Missing without the benefit of quite so many accessible cameras for June to peek through would be an adventure all its own.

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‘Missing’ Review: Mom’s Lost in the Matrix

This thriller, about a teenage girl whose mother disappears, plays out on a computer screen.

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In a scene from the film, a girl is on her smartphone while bathed in the light of a computer screen.

By Amy Nicholson

The gimmick behind “Missing,” a strenuous techno-thriller about a teen girl named June (Storm Reid) who takes to the internet to track down her mother (Nia Long), is that the directors and screenwriters, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, frame the action on computer screens. All of June’s sleuthing is cloistered to apps which she opens in increasing panic. She’s a web-weaned child who barely bothered to speak to her mom even before the parent’s disappearance. Initially, June celebrates having the house to herself by Googling “How to throw a rager.” Her friends dutifully post her drunkenness to Instagram so that we, the viewer, can witness it.

June’s mother was last seen headed to Cartagena with her boyfriend (Ken Leung), a dork so drab that even his festive vacation shirts are drained of color. By the end of the first act, June and her best friend (Megan Suri) are scouring the man’s Facebook for clues to hack his email password. (Maybe they should try RedH3rring$.)

From there, the story emboldens itself from relatable online stalking to ludicrous plot twists, both of which Reid parries with confidence. When the film momentarily feigns to look like a film, the image zooms out to reveal that the handsome cinematography is really a true crime docuseries streaming on June’s laptop. (In a meta-joke, the show is a glossy re-enactment of the producers’ previous film, the 2018 mystery “Searching,” which shared a near-identical premise.)

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movie reviews on missing

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Missing Reviews

movie reviews on missing

The film is a loose sequel to 2018’s Searching, and, despite aiming at a somewhat younger audience than its predecessor, it sure doesn’t fail at making us scared.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2024

movie reviews on missing

Ultimately, this is a truly enjoyable experience for anyone looking for a film that will make them think about theories, debate, or simply gawk at intense and absurd turning points. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 19, 2023

movie reviews on missing

The screenlife storytelling technique remains fascinating, as debutants Will Merrick and Nick Johnson bring an insane level of mind-blowing detail to every single digital frame.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Nov 27, 2023

movie reviews on missing

Wherever the line exists between breathless entertainment and strained contrivance, “Missing” spends a decent amount of time on both sides.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 22, 2023

movie reviews on missing

Long and Leung quietly steal the movie as their characters exchange vulnerability-exposing messages on an online dating service during their courtship, convincing as second-act people falling in love

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 16, 2023

It is surprising how much tension can be created when all of the action unfolds in the cyber world.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 9, 2023

movie reviews on missing

Missing is a time capsule of our modern digital age that proves the love between a mother and a daughter is fierce, confusing, and timeless.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

movie reviews on missing

I was worried about MISSING being the same bag of tricks from its predecessor SEARCHING… but thankfully with new pieces of technology, a bigger scope of characters/locations, & an overall thrilling mystery.. MISSING IS GREAT

movie reviews on missing

Excellently acted, full to the brim with twists and with good use of it's technology technique, Missing is an extremely competent thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 24, 2023

movie reviews on missing

The format means there’s no room to hide, and Reid is talented enough to excel in a role that requires her face to be on screen for the best part of 90 minutes; to hold your own against veterans like Long and Almeida is no mean feat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 27, 2023

movie reviews on missing

The imagery is fiendishly clever, sending a terrific cast spiralling through a series of mind-boggling twists and turns. But as involving as the movie is, the plot completely disintegrates if you take a moment to think about it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 25, 2023

Missing does unleash some mighty big twists and turns, at points stretching the very credulity it successfully builds overall, and maybe having one reveal too many, but – despite threatening to – it never comes off the rails...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 25, 2023

The inventive approach and the frantic energy of the storytelling elevate the picture above its slightly gimmicky formal device, though this film lacks the novelty value that made Searching such a talking point.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 23, 2023

As a nosey parker riff on the dating history of your parents, the film has a clickbaity kind of appeal...

movie reviews on missing

'Missing' misses the point.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 21, 2023

Writer-directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson push a little at the boundaries of credibility, but it’s ingeniously done.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 21, 2023

Good fun for an hour, but the novelty wears thin, and that final third is positively bananas, in all the worst ways. Approach with caution.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 20, 2023

The final act was one reveal too many, unfortunately, and a glib use of a serious subject matter doesn’t help.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 19, 2023

A gripping, well-told, incredibly watchable thriller for a new generation of TikTok sleuths — and a compelling argument to up your average screen-time.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2023

movie reviews on missing

Reid has been honing her acting skills for a number of years and she just seems to be getting better as time goes on.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 9, 2023

Missing (2023) Review

Missing

21 Apr 2023

Missing (2023)

Released in 2018, Searching seemed the natural cinematic response to a generation of people raised and nourished by screens. Directed by Aneesh Chaganty, it built on the cinematic language established in 2014's Unfriended , a subgenre that producer Timur Bekmambetov labelled ‘screenlife’ — where the entirety of the onscreen action takes place within the confines of a computer or phone browser window, the drama playing out in FaceTime calls, texts, and frantic Google searches — the ‘mise-en-screen’, if you will. It was an ingenious, original and very of-its-time thriller.

So nakedly entertaining and consistently satisfying that it perhaps even edges past its predecessor.

Missing , the spiritual sequel to Searching , involves an entirely new story and — save for a sly reference to John Cho ’s character in the prologue — an entirely new cast, but it retains the cinematic grammar and philosophy of the original film. New writer-directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson served as editors of Searching , and were heavily responsible for co-creating that screenlife style. Clearly, they have a keen understanding of how this unusual format works, how it should look, and how its visual limitations require pace and drama as counterpoint. So, again, underneath the flashily vibrant, music video-style editing, there is fleet-footed storytelling, a mystery that builds and evolves, twists, red herrings and long-dormant secrets behind every new browser window.

The stage is nicely set for a well-made retread, then. But Missing is so nakedly entertaining and consistently satisfying that, in a few ways, it perhaps even edges past its predecessor. For one thing, switching the main perspective from John Cho’s naive middle-aged dad to Storm Reid ’s tech-literate Gen-Z hero June feels a particularly smart move: it makes far more sense that an Extremely Online 18-year-old would have the amateur sleuthing skillset to slowly unravel the mystery of her missing mother. For her part, Reid is excellent, engaging company.

Her performance also helps contribute to the fact that this is, impressively, more emotionally rich than the original film. While both are stories about fractured relationships between parents and children being healed through a traumatic experience, Missing finds surprising, dramatically powerful ways to deepen that arc, with a final-act reveal that hits hard. And while the plausibility of the screenlife format is certainly stretched — as with Cho’s character in Searching , June helpfully leaves her FaceTime camera on at all times, even when not on a call — it’s never totally broken, Merrick and Johnson finding new ingenious ways to keep the action on a screen (from a remote security set-up to a smart watch camera). In fact, amid the heartrate-swelling suspense, it even finds room for warmth and humour — a joke about CAPTCHAs is particularly well-observed — and crucially, tells a story that would still work gangbusters in a conventional film. That’s Missing ’s true strength: as shrewd and gimmicky as its format is, it is, fundamentally, a good film first.

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Missing

Movies | 16 11 2022

Review: ‘Missing’ turns up more terrors in tech and true crime

Two high school girls working on a laptop computer in the movie "Missing."

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In 2018, director Aneesh Chaganty and co-writer Sev Ohanian turned in a nifty little thriller, “Searching , ” that comments on the way we live now, which is to say, online. In it, John Cho searches for his missing daughter through her digital detritus, parsing clues in plain sight. The entirety of the film took place on a computer screen, making use of the way cameras permeate our everyday existence, from FaceTime to surveillance video.

“Searching” was a critical and commercial success, and a follow-up, “Missing” — written and directed by Nick Johnson and Will Merrick, with a story by Chaganty and Ohanian — hits theaters this week. This time, it’s a parent that’s gone missing, and as the daughter searches for her mother, she turns up a whole host of new terrors and triumphs of tech and true crime.

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Johnson and Merrick use the format set by “Searching,” but the technological, cultural and media landscape has evolved, including the fire hose of streaming true crime content. The only time the camera is ever liberated from the laptop screen is during fake-out re-creations from a Netflix true crime series called “Unfiction.” There’s also the proliferation of TikTok detectives and Twitter police performing armchair analysis on every missing person case.

If you’ve seen “Searching,” you’ll probably have an inkling that the answer will be planted in front of filmgoers, but “Missing” takes some absolutely wild and crazy twists and turns in arriving at its destination. College-bound June ( Storm Reid ), 18, just wants to rage with her friends while her mom, Grace ( Nia Long ), is on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung). But when a hungover June rolls into LAX to pick them up a week later, Grace and Kevin are no-shows.

Relying on her impressive Google skills, innate to a digitally native member of Gen Z, June starts searching for her missing mom, combing through tourist live cams, bank statements and hiring a TaskRabbit-type helper, Javi (Joaquim de Almeida), to do footwork in Colombia. June is smart, resourceful and bold, and the way she cracks passwords and navigates the maze of information will make anyone think deeply about how much data tracking one should leave toggled on in their Google account. Is it better to leave a trace? Depends on what you’re doing.

The suspenseful “Missing” plows through nearly two hours of shocking plot twists at a breakneck pace. And while it’s entertaining to be sure, it also takes on a somber tone as it reckons with grief, loss and intimate partner violence in a way that’s very real, backed up by headlines ripped from the news, and yes, those true crime series and TikToks that are so very compelling.

That’s what makes movies like “Searching” and “Missing” so captivating. They’re not only high-concept thrillers featuring melodramatic acting (Reid is a likable presence, but it’s doubtful she’ll snag an Independent Spirit Award nomination the way Cho did) but they also feel authentic to the way we live, even in the outlandish moments.

We experience so much of our reality online, unknowingly scattering artifacts of our lived experience as we click and swipe. But “Searching” and “Missing” reiterate that despite the pictures, videos, the bread crumbs of humanity reflected in zeroes and ones, there’s nothing like the real thing, for better, or for worse.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rated: PG-13, for some strong violence, language, teen drinking and thematic material Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes Playing: Starts Jan. 20 in general release

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Home » Movies » Movie Reviews

Missing (2023) Review – anxiety-ridden and armrest-grabbing movie

missing-2023-review

Anxiety-ridden and armrest-grabbing, Missing is the type of old-fashioned thriller that trades star power for a good story that audiences are clamoring for.

We review of 2023 movie Missing, which does not contain spoilers.

There is just something about the new genre of storytelling from the original makers of Searching that brings the necessary storytelling suspense that audiences have been searching for. Missing from Hollywood films is a good story, one that doesn’t cover up plotholes with massive globs of expensive CGI and special effects. Missing ‘s anxiety-ridden and armrest-grabbing script is so old-fashioned it could be considered retro.

Missing (2023) movie Review and Plot Summary

The story follows an 18-year-old high school student named June ( A Wrinkle in Time’s Storm Reid ), a teenager who has lived with the trauma of her father’s dying of cancer when she was a small child. She lives in that moment daily. So much so she is so worried about losing another parent, evident by the way she saves almost any voicemail from her mother, Grace ( Nia Long ), even keeping her at a distance to protect herself. However, Grace is moving on with her life. She is now dating Kevin ( Kenneth Leung of The Sopranos and Lost fame), who is eager to win June’s approval.

Kevin is taking Grace on vacation to Columbia (was Hawaii closed for the season?). So, what possibly could go wrong? Grace is overprotective of her and is now recognized by the state as an adult daughter. She transfers 350 dollars into her account for emergencies while she is gone. The single mother also has her best friend and attorney, Heather ( Amy Landecker ), check in on her. Unfortunately, the vacation takes place over father’s day, another reminder of what she never had and lost.

June throws a party with her friends over the weekend. She then goes to pick up her mother at the airport, but she is nowhere to be found. Worried, she contacts Heather. They begin to reach the Columbian consulate and the FBI agent assigned to the case (played by The Wheel of Time ‘s Daniel Henney ) when things do not move as fast as June’s liking with all the red tape. The determined teen hires a local handyman ( Desperado ‘s Joaquim de Almeida ) for eight dollars an hour to head over to the hotel to review the footage. What she finds next is terrifying. Why? Because she could find herself parentless and without family if she can not bring her mother home.

If the film looks familiar, it should. Written and directed by Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick , the story comes from Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian , responsible for 2018’s surprise Hitchcockian hit, Searching. Johnson and Merrick, bother editors on Chaganty’s first film, show an eye-opening amount of confidence and a remarkably steady hand for their first-time feature. Keep in mind this is the first feature film they both have written and directed. (Both have only performed those duties in a handful of short films up to this point). The final product of this stand-alone sequel is well-crafted. The script still builds a genuine amount of suspense while keeping the first trademark poignancy.

And that’s no short feet working with such a young actress in Storm Reid. While Searching had the always underutilized and underappreciated John Cho’s moving portrayal of a broken father frantically searching for his missing daughter, Reid’s June brings enough stoic thoughtfulness to the screen that is refreshing. The young actor doesn’t veer far away from the script, never mugging up the screen for effect. Reid keeps a youthful way about her character that is believable. Like rolling her eyes at Heather for finding Kevin hot or violating boundaries with Javier, it all works well within the story.

Many may find the storytelling tool of moving the narrative through a “screenlife” mystery tiresome, but I have to admit the device remains endlessly clever here. Using websites, live cams, security video doorbell systems, geo-tracking, and the amusing use of a streaming service builds the tension needed for a thriller. Admittingly, the “gimmick” allows the script to patronize (or even be condescending to) the audience. The trick here is without anyone realizing it. Even without the negative consequences.

Is the 2023 movie Missing good?

While Searching had the tone of a true crime documentary, Missing tends to expand on the original’s premise, which sometimes tends to strain credibility. Also, the film’s big twist is fairly obvious if you know what to look for and have seen enough movies to know what to expect. Yet, the script is suspenseful and touching enough to make the viewer care. It’s the old-fashioned thriller with a modern presentation that trades star power for a good story that audiences are clamoring for.

What did you think of the 2023 movie Missing? Comment below.

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Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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Exciting, diverse, screen-based mystery has strong violence.

Missing Movie Poster: Text message exchange on a cracked phone screen

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie realistically deals with the issue of do

Despite throwing a huge party full of underage dri

Main characters June (Storm Reid) and Grace (Nia L

Domestic abuse. Man snatches a screaming teen girl

Dating app shown. Photo intended to be seen as sex

Uses of "s--t," "Jesus Christ," "shut up," "idiot,

Apple OS used, with heavy Siri presence (she's ess

Heavy teen drinking during party. Teens shown drun

Parents need to know that mystery/thriller Missing is a follow-up to Searching . The two movies don't have any characters in common, but both are told in screenlife style, with all of the action unfolding on screens. While not flawless, Missing is smart and zippy and will keep viewers on…

Positive Messages

The movie realistically deals with the issue of domestic abuse and the extent of the damage it can cause. It also champions communication and trust between parent and child.

Positive Role Models

Despite throwing a huge party full of underage drinking (she herself vomits and wakes up with a hangover) without getting caught, June proves to be a resilient, persistent, and whip-smart character who's unwilling to give up in her pursuit of solving a problem, including asking others for help.

Diverse Representations

Main characters June (Storm Reid) and Grace (Nia Long) are fully developed Black women. Grace's boyfriend is played by Chinese-American actor Ken Leung. June's Colombian helper, Javier, is played by Portuguese-born actor Joaquim de Almeida, andJune's best friend, Veena, is played by Indian-American actor Megan Suri. FBI man Park is played by American-Korean actor Daniel Henney. The only other major character is a powerful lawyer played by White actor Amy Landecker.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Domestic abuse. Man snatches a screaming teen girl. Teen girl tied up and gagged. Man wrestles teen to the ground. Guns and shooting. Character shot in stomach. Woman murdered, sliced throat. Person stabbed with shard of broken mirror. Brief gurgling blood. Character hit in head. Gunshot noises, character killed (off camera). Masked figures kidnap people and drive away in a white van. Teen girl's mother is missing. Suggestion of death from brain tumor. Threats.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Dating app shown. Photo intended to be seen as sexy is sent through email.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Uses of "s--t," "Jesus Christ," "shut up," "idiot," "swear to God." Typed on computer: "stfu" (or "shut the f--k up"), "omg" (or "oh my God")

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Apple OS used, with heavy Siri presence (she's essentially a character in the film). Many computer-based brands named: Google, Facebook, FaceTime, Taskrabbit, etc.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Heavy teen drinking during party. Teens shown drunk, throwing up, hung over. Teens drink from red plastic cups, bottles. Suggestion of man having drug habit, with bloody nose.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that mystery/thriller Missing is a follow-up to Searching . The two movies don't have any characters in common, but both are told in screenlife style, with all of the action unfolding on screens. While not flawless, Missing is smart and zippy and will keep viewers on their toes. It includes some harrowing domestic violence, as well as other tense scenes (more so than in Searching ). A teen girl is grabbed, wrestled to the ground, thrown in a car trunk, tied up, and gagged. A woman is shot, another woman's body is found with the neck sliced open, and a character is stabbed with a shard of broken mirror (gurgling blood is seen/heard). Language includes infrequent uses of "s--t," "Jesus Christ," "idiot," etc. "Stfu" ("shut the f--k up") and "omg" ("oh my God") are typed on-screen. A dating app and a "sexy" photo are shown. There's a wild teen party with drinking, vomiting, and hangovers, as well as the suggestion of a character having a drug habit (including a bloody nose). Heading up a diverse cast, Storm Reid stars as the movie's unflappable teen hero, who's trying to find her missing mom. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

  • Parents say (7)
  • Kids say (29)

Based on 7 parent reviews

Not as scary as described

What's the story.

In MISSING, June ( Storm Reid ) is a petulant teen who's constantly clashing with her controlling mother, Grace ( Nia Long ), partly over her mother's new relationship with Kevin ( Ken Leung ). Grace and Kevin depart for a romantic getaway to Colombia, and June throws a wild party for her friends. But when she goes to the airport to pick up Grace and Kevin, they're nowhere to be found. Using nothing but her computer, June desperately launches into detective mode, even managing to hire a Colombian helper, Javier ( Joaquim de Almeida ), to do some legwork for her. Just when she seems to hit a wall, she discovers a strange new clue, unveiling an even stranger mystery.

Is It Any Good?

Taking place entirely on computer screens and video monitors, this thriller builds a clever, frantic, and emotional mystery, even if it finds itself stretched a bit too thin as it reaches its climax. Like its spiritual predecessor, Searching (with which it shares only its motif), Missing is a mystery for the modern age, with its 18-year-old hero clicking from web browsers to notepads to FaceTime while hacking email accounts and hiring out-of-country help, all at lightning speed. (Even Sherlock Holmes' head would spin.) Co-writers and directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson -- who worked as editors on Searching -- establish an exciting pace, as well as an exciting main character in June, and all of her quick-clicks tickle viewers' brains. The filmmakers also admirably attempt to tackle the serious business of domestic abuse, but when their narrative leaves the computer screen and switches to security camera monitors, Missing starts to stumble a little, although it comes back with a satisfying snap of a solution. Yes, in retrospect things begin to fall apart under scrutiny, but it's still a perfectly satisfying viewing experience.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Missing 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How is teen drinking depicted? Is it glamorized? Are there consequences? Why is that important?

How well does this ScreenLife-style movie work? Does it ever "cheat"? Would it have been better or worse as a "normal" movie?

What arguments could the movie make for/against too much screen time ?

Did this movie make you think differently about how you or your family uses technology for privacy or safety?

Movie Details

  • In theaters : January 20, 2023
  • On DVD or streaming : March 7, 2023
  • Cast : Storm Reid , Nia Long , Amy Landecker
  • Directors : Nick Johnson , Will Merrick
  • Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
  • Studios : Sony Pictures , Screen Gems
  • Genre : Thriller
  • Run time : 111 minutes
  • MPAA rating : PG-13
  • MPAA explanation : some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material
  • Last updated : May 31, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Review Geek

Missing (2023) Movie Review – Digital storytelling format is highly effective again

Digital storytelling format is highly effective again.

Aneesh Chaganty’s minimalist Searching (2018) set a pretty high standard for a relatively new storytelling format. With Missing, the filmmaker settled as the writer/producer and handed over the reins to Nick Johnson and Will Merrick. It is safe to say that Missing follows a mostly similar path as Searching with familiar themes and narrative outlay.

Storm Reid, who was most recently seen in episode 7 of The Last of Us , stars as June Allen. This time around, the tables turn and it is the daughter looking for her mother.

The feeling of familiarity is fully exploited in Missing. Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty were smart not to change the setup and themes too much. Mostly, some updated technological advancements have found their way into the story and influenced it quite sweepingly. Take a breath before you start watching how easy it is to gain access to your private stuff on the internet.

Even though the point of Missing is not to paint a dark picture of the endless possibilities, that element becomes an important and memorable takeaway from the film.

One of Missing’s greatest strengths is its ability to keep the audience guessing. The plot is full of twists and turns, and just when you think you’ve figured it out, another surprise is thrown your way. This keeps the tension high throughout and makes for a genuinely engaging experience. It must be said that even though the story is more complex, it comes at a cost.

The subtext is a little compromised as a result but definitely not a deal-breaker. The role reversal brings a new level of vulnerability and tech-savvy to the screen too. June makes for a more compelling anchor to the story because of her profile. One can even purport that had it been David Kim – the protagonist from the previous movie – he would not have been able to get very far.

The volatility in her emotional and mental state is starkly different from Kim’s. It places the viewers, especially younger ones, in a more relatable position relative to the story. With that in mind, there is a sense of stereotyping in some aspects of teen life today by Chaganty. That allows some convenient characterization of Grace and her friends, aiding the storytelling effort. But none of the pitfalls of Missing can be said to bring it down.

Most flaws are excusable and do not affect Missing foundationally. Editing is once again top-notch to make the experience of watching the film and following the plot seamlessly. We switch from one window to the other with great efficiency and purpose. There are a few missteps along the way but nothing too serious. Ironically, the editors from Searching are directors in Missing – Merrick and Johnson.

There are some internal potshots as well by Chaganty and Ohanian. Unfiction, the parodical true-crime series that takes place in Missing’s universe streams on Netflix and not Prime Video, the platform on which Missing is available to stream. It was rumoured a few years ago that Netflix had picked up to finance and distribute the sequel but clearly, the deal fell through.

The meta touch is in good taste and is an overall part of the truncated funny vein of Missing. There was some more promise to be extracted from that genre within the storytelling but Missing “misses” the point of that.

Storm Reid is exceptional as June, making for a reliable protagonist like John Cho in Searching. It is ironic that we get to see her star in a central role after seeing glimpses of her feisty personality as Riley in The Last of Us. She is comfortable across the spectrum of emotions, hardly showing any weaknesses in expressing June’s mental state. She is supported well by Amy Landecker (Heather), Nia Long (Grace), and Tim Griffin (James).

Missing is a simple-minded highly effective standalone sequel to Searching with its own story to tell. The foyer of familiarity drives home the point of a trusted narrative approach, making it yet another compelling watch from Aneesh Chaganty’s growing stature of work.

Read More: Missing Ending Explained

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Missing, the best mystery thriller of the year, is now on Netflix

Storm Reid tries to solve a crime from a computer

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A young woman (Storm Reid) with braided hair holding a cell phone to her ear while staring at a screen off-screen in “Missing.”

It’s rare that a mystery movie feels new. From the world’s greatest detectives to based-on-a-beach-read thrillers, movies have mined the mystery genre for nearly all it’s worth over the years. Which is why it’s so nice when something like Missing comes along and shakes up the formula a little bit.

Missing is the 2023 follow-up to 2018’s Searching and follows June Allen ( Storm Reid ), a teenager who never really knew her father and loves (but doesn’t always get along with) her doing-her-best single mom — and she gets along even worse with her mom’s latest boyfriend. Despite that difficulty, when her mom mysteriously disappears in the middle of a trip to Mexico, June jumps into action, using everything at her disposal as an amateur online detective to find her.

This premise may sound simple, but that’s by design. Missing ’s real hook is that it’s told entirely through the on-screen displays of the devices that are in front of us every day. Scenes play out in Photo Booth windows, FaceTime calls, security footage played off a computer screen, video chats, or internet browsers. Everything in Missing comes straight off a screen, including all the detective work that June does. This isn’t the first movie to present its plot almost entirely through a screen, but it does take a more varied approach and changes locations more often than movies like Unfriended or its superior sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web .

Storm Reid in Missing, looking at her computer screen in shock while her friend sits behind her on a couch

This is where the movie’s cleverness really shines through. Missing is a movie that’s confident on the internet. It understands there are livestreams of most bustling public places at any given time, or that a Tasker or other gig app worker is a good way of being somewhere without having to physically go there. We even get clever phishing scams designed to entrap boomers, and some clever account manipulation that feels grounded enough to work. It’s a refreshing change from the versions of the internet in other thrillers and never falls prey to their comical depictions of “hacking” or pretending their characters are tech geniuses.

The framing of shots that play out via webcam or video feed is creative and organic, and gives the movie a genuine air of suspense that makes us feel just as helpless as June does with her remote investigating. It’s an impressive feat to make sure all this camera work is never annoying and doesn’t call attention to itself, but debut directors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick pull it off in increasingly surprising ways up to Missing ’s very last moments. They find dozens of ways to showcase the action without repeating anything too many times, and turn the limitations of webcam or iPhone viewing angles into opportunities for tension.

But Missing is more than just the sum of its gimmicks. It is, first and foremost, just a supremely entertaining movie. It gives viewers plenty of clues to solve its mystery themselves, but plays things out just as entertainingly if you’re an amateur Hercule Poirot or simply content to sit on the sidelines and let the characters do the solving. Even beyond its actual mystery, Missing is a rare whip-smart thriller that never lets its stakes get out of hand and keeps things fun, even when the situations on screen are at their most dire.

Missing is streaming on Netflix

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Movie Review: “Missing”

June Allen defines a modern teenager: as resourceful, adept, technology-centric, cunning, and fearless. The character will need all of her faculties as she tries to find her missing mom in Nick Johnson’s and Will Merrick’s riveting Missing , now in theaters.

June, played by Storm Reid , is your typical, rambunctious, and rebellious teenager living in Los Angeles. Her mom, Grace (Nia Long), has a new boyfriend, Kevin Lin (Ken Leung), and they are preparing for a last-minute trip to Colombia when Grace mysteriously goes missing.

Carrying on with the innovative screen life mystery thriller storytelling revealed in 2018’s Searching , Johnson and Merrick adapted Sev Ohanian’s and Aneesh Chaganty’s story in Missing to a mostly positive effect. Missing retains the mystery and builds on the thrillerish tension by containing the account to a computer screen, a phone screen, or a camera feed fed to whatever device June has handy.

Johnson and Merrick are very young first-time co-directors, but that doesn’t stop them from being able to demonstrate the technical skills between generations, at least from the perspective of a teenager. They imbue June with the skills she needs; however, they do it at a pace that the audience can digest what’s happening.

As the story delves further into the mystery, we are introduced to Javier Ramos (Joaquim de Almeida), a complete stranger to June. As footloose, a teenager as June is, the fact that she had and was able to rely on and trust in a complete stranger to help her find her mom is impressive. The character moments between the two demonstrate what a connected world we live in, and it’s because we have cameras everywhere, leading me to question just how strongly our reliance on technology drives our daily lives.

Thoughts about a  lack of privacy wash away as June encounters resistance from our government in being able to locate Grace. The story takes a few strange tacks in the latter part of the second act that gives us pause as to where the story ends up going. However, this well-constructed mystery eventually solves itself because it takes time to build our faith in June’s abilities.

The third is probably the weakest of the three acts, hampered by convenient technology and a rather unorthodox yet reasonable resolution. Still, June’s character arc felt complete, we are comfortable with the outcome, and we’re left wanting more of these types of stories.

And that’s where I take a bit of an issue with Missing . Searching gave us something truly innovative in terms of its storytelling technique. In developing Missing ‘s story, it becomes an extension of Chaganty’s Run , which I have not seen and has been defined as an anthology of stories. Even with a spare 111-minute run time, the screen life gimmick can only be used so much to tell these types of stories. Admittedly, the creativity displayed in Missing is off-the-chart. That it fell off in the third act gives me a moment of pause in just how effective a virtualized world depicted in the film really is going forward.

Suffice it to say, Missing is a worthwhile watch with a crowd. Storm Reid, Nia Long, and Joaquim de Almeida are all excellent in their performances. Missing is a worthy follow-up to Searching . Now that the innovation has demonstrated its effectiveness, and we get its point, thought should be given to expanding its use, not relying solely on it.

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Missing parents guide

Missing Parent Guide

Taut, twisty, and tightly paced this movie will keep audiences on the edge of their seats..

Theaters: After her mother doesn't return from a vacation in Colombia, June uses all of her tech skills to try to find her, but uncovers secrets she could have never anticipated.

Release date January 20, 2023

Run Time: 111 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

Eighteen-year-old June (Storm Reid) is pushing back against her mother, Grace (Nia Long), who expects her to stick to her curfew, reply to texts and messages, and (most irksome of all) respond to her childhood nickname, “Junebug”. When Grace and her boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung), head off to Colombia on a romantic vacation, June heaves a sigh of relief and promptly throws a booze-fueled party for all her friends. But June’s enjoyment is short-lived: Grace isn’t at the airport when her plane lands and June’s frustration soon frays into worry before exploding into full-fledged panic.

June may be young, but she’s nothing if not resourceful and tech savvy. Using a truly mind-boggling number of computer programs and communication applications, the young woman manages to hack Kevin’s Google account, view public camera feeds from across the city of Cartagena, hire a Colombian through TaskRabbit to check local facts, and uncover some very surprising evidence of past misdeeds. As June becomes increasingly aware of the sea of danger surrounding her mother, she also learns that there’s more to Grace than she imagines…

The film’s tech vibes will certainly appeal to young audiences, but even a middle-aged computer peasant like me can get caught up in the story. Missing is a taut, exciting tale that doesn’t waste a minute. Its plot never slows down and has enough twists and turns to keep even a jaded film critic completely focused. It’s always a treat to find a movie that doesn’t telegraph plot developments twenty minutes ahead: if you’re looking for a show that won’t bore you to death by the midpoint, Missing fits the bill.

Parents considering Missing for their teens will want to bear in mind a celebratory approach to teen drinking and moderate use of profanity. The biggest issue is violence: there are scenes of abductions and characters are threatened, beaten, shot, and stabbed. On the flip side, this is also a movie that depicts persistence, determination, and the enduring power of family ties. June learns that what she’s also been missing is a genuine appreciation for her mother. For most of us, learning to appreciate our parents comes with age and perspective, but for June that experience is compressed into a few harrowing weeks. Hopefully her experience gives teen viewers something to think about as they munch on their popcorn.

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Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for missing.

Missing Rating & Content Info

Why is Missing rated PG-13? Missing is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material.

Violence:   A person has a nosebleed. There is mention of a fatal case of cancer. People are abducted and confined. Characters are hit and threatened. People are threatened with guns and shot, with bloody injuries and blood splatter on walls. A person is fatally stabbed. A dead body is found in a closet. Sexual Content: None noted. Profanity: There are just over a dozen profanities in the movie, including terms of deity, scatological curses, and minor swear words. A crude term for male genitalia is seen. Alcohol / Drug Use: Eighteen year olds are seen drinking lots of alcohol and getting drunk: the movie is set in California so they are all underage. Teens are seen holding marijuana but not actually smoking it. There is mention of the possession of illegal drugs.

Page last updated January 22, 2024

Missing Parents' Guide

How does June’s attitude towards her mother change over the course of the film? Why did her mother deceive June about her past? Do you think she was justified in her choices?

Related home video titles:

Missing is a companion film to Searching , in which a father looks for his daughter. This movie also tells its tale from the perspective of a computer screen.

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'Missing' is like 'Searching' on steroids. You better hold on.

How far will you go to find a missing loved one? If you’re Liam Neeson, to the ends of the earth. For “Euphoria” actress Storm Reid, to Google Search and beyond … at least within the bounds of cyberspace. 

“Missing” is a follow-up, but not exactly a sequel to, the 2018 film “Searching.” The concept is the same: Tell a thrilling missing-person story through Gen-Z style found footage. 

Yet what was novel in “Searching” felt redundant in “Missing” — at least until the second act. All the action is told through a screen of some kind. It’s a challenging and restrictive way to tell a story. But that is what made “Searching” so exciting. Creativity is cranked to maximum when you’re restricted to such tight parameters. 

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The filmmaking style in 'Missing' threatens to wear out its welcome

But as “The Blair Witch Project” dazzled audiences in 1999 with its unusual delivery, its style quickly grew kitschy as more films mimicked it. The same will undoubtedly happen with these “screen-story” types of movies such as “Missing.” 

What made the difference for “Missing” is the story. It’s not a direct cookie-cutter replica of its predecessor. The core ingredients are there, but the filmmakers added some extra spice.  

June, played by Storm Reid, is your typical prickly 18-year-old. Raised by her mother Grace (Nia Long), June has entered a time in her life where she feels ready to escape parental guidance. 

June’s father is missing from her life. As such, she’s not particularly welcoming to her mother’s boyfriend, Kevin, played by Ken Leung. 

Grace is a loving, if overprotective, mother who’s not tech savvy.

“Siri, call June.”

“Mom, you’re on FaceTime.”

June responds to the all-consuming motherly affection by never checking her voicemails, and giving a thumbs-up when Grace texts, “I love you.” In typical teenager fashion, she cannot wait for the grownups to leave the house so she can go wild with her friends.

The action truly begins when Grace and Kevin fail to return from a romantic getaway to Columbia. Enter Act 2.

June jumps into a head-spinning investigation to figure out what happened to her mother. Did Kevin kidnap her? Were they abducted? Did they never leave the country? And why does she keep getting texts from an acquaintance about his missing watch? There ain’t no time for that!

Through security cameras, Google, tracking devices and more, June tries to uncover the truth. 

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What drives the movie is the story itself, and the sense of fun

As mentioned before, the concept of telling a story through “screens” like computers, phones and cameras isn’t as novel as it was in “Searching.” But the number of plot twists will leave you second-guessing yourself. I was only able to figure out the answer to about a third of the mysteries. But the rest left a thrilling impression that made “Missing” a genuinely fun ride.

Reid seemed very much in her element. Rather than acting at us through the screens, she really managed to embody her character. 

Hats off to the writers and directors, Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, for keeping the audience guessing. 

On the whole, “Missing” managed to capture the imagination. And it took a storytelling style to its most ludacris yet exciting ends. Honestly, what are the odds of hiring an errand-runner in Columbia for $8 an hour who can speak English? Even so, I would watch this movie again. It’s that much fun. 

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‘Missing’ Four stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick.

Cast: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung.

Rating: PG-13 for some strong violence, language, teen drinking and thematic material.

How to watch: In theaters Jan. 20.

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movie reviews on missing

  • DVD & Streaming
  • Drama , Mystery/Suspense , Thriller

Content Caution

Missing 2023

In Theaters

  • January 20, 2023
  • Storm Reid as June; Nia Long as Grace; Joaquim de Almeida as Javi; Daniel Henney as Agent Park; Ken Leung as Kevin; Amy Landecker as Heather; Megan Suri as Veena; Tim Griffin as James; Michael Segovia as Angel; Lauren B. Mosley as Rachel; Tracy Vilar as Det. Gomez; Ava Zaria Lee as Young June

Home Release Date

  • March 7, 2023
  • Nicholas D. Johnson; Will Merrick

Distributor

  • Stage 6 Films

Movie Review

Things just haven’t been the same since June’s father died.

June loved her dad, and she still thinks about him all the time. But when he succumbed to a brain tumor, her whole life was uprooted. She and her mom, Grace, moved to Los Angeles and began a new life together there.

More than a decade passed. Grace began dating again. And she found a nice guy, Kevin, who seems to really get her—even more than June does. Then again, these days June and Grace don’t exactly have the best relationship.

Case in point: Kevin has booked a nice vacation getaway to Colombia for himself and Grace. She’s agreed to go with him—even though the trip will happen over Father’s Day .

June, meanwhile, isn’t ready to move on. And she’s frustrated that her mom seems OK with letting her father’s memory fade into oblivion.

Well, at least with Grace gone, June will be able to throw a big house party for her friends, then dance and drink her problems away—at least for a little bit. You know, maybe it’s not so bad having mom out of the house?

That’s what June thinks at first. But when the day comes for her to pick her mom up from the airport, well, Grace isn’t there. In fact, she isn’t anywhere where her daughter can locate or call her. Soon, June’s concerned enough to call the Colombian hotel for answers.

The answer? Grace and Kevin vanished from the hotel, leaving everything behind. No one knows where they are.

But that’s not going to stop June from doing everything she can to find her missing mother.

Positive Elements

When June’s mother disappears, the teen’s disdain gradually transforms into concern, love and action. She obviously can’t travel to Colombia on her own. But June resourcefully uses technology of all kinds to begin trying to figure out what happened to her mom and Kevin.

During her search, June connects with a Colombian man, Javi, who is very helpful in her investigation. Though Javi is initially hired on an hourly rate as something like a private investigator, he eventually begins helping June for free when he realizes the severity of the situation. The two of them bond over their broken relationships with respective family members, and Javi reminds June that a good parent’s love is unconditional.

Though June uses technology in some pretty ingenious ways to track down her mom, we’re also shown just how quickly people using social media can create and spread false narratives. We see plenty of Internet users speculating with little evidence about what really happened, for example.

June initially disrespects and feels callous towards her mom. But Grace’s disappearance causes June to regret how she treated her mom. She looks through previous texts and voicemails that remind her just how much love her mother has for her.

Spiritual Elements

A man runs a program called Holy Father Ministries, a reentry program for ex-convicts.

Sexual Content

During her search for answers, June finds a sexted photo of a woman in her underwear. People are briefly seen in swimsuits.

Violent Content

June’s father’s nose begins bleeding early in the film, and we soon  learn that he’s died because of a brain tumor.

Later, the camera comes across the dead body of someone, found shot in the head. Another person is shot and killed offscreen. Someone is shot in the side, and blood splatters the wall behind them. Another person is stabbed with a shard of glass. Someone mentions being domestically abused. There’s a kidnapping as well.

Crude or Profane Language

The s-word is used 10 times. The f-word is implied twice with the acronyms “STFU” and “WTF.” “H—,” “d–n” and “a–” are used sparingly. A typo causes a man to text “c-ck” instead of “mock.” God’s name is misused 15 times. Jesus’ name is taken in vain twice.

Drug and Alcohol Content

We see a party of underaged teenagers drink alcohol—and June, who is 18, drinks so much that she vomits and passes out. Later, a friend mentions being hungover.

We hear a reference to drug use and drug distribution.

Other Negative Elements

We discover that someone was, at one point, a con man.

Man, it’s amazing just how much technology can do these days. We have calculators that can instantly solve complex math. We have trackers that can pinpoint our location with the use of satellite technology. And we have apps that can help us deduce exactly what happened to our missing mother when she never returned from her vacation in Colombia.

OK, that last one might be a bit speculative. But in Missing , that’s exactly what we see.

Missing is a “standalone sequel” to Searching . Much like its predecessor, it stars someone desperately scouring technological rabbit trails to determine what happened to a missing family member. In fact, every second of this mystery thriller unfolds via various phone and laptop screens—the foremost being the laptop of our central protagonist, June.

But just because the story advances via multiple open tabs (that would make me instinctively want to check my laptop’s battery level), that doesn’t mean there isn’t content here. Several characters are shot and killed. Teenagers drink enough alcohol at a party to induce vomiting. And as for the language, that’s present, too.

At the same time, the film reminds us of how we can take our familial relationships for granted, and how we might not appreciate what we have until after it’s gone.

The film’s unique style makes for a thrilling ride for adult viewers. Somehow, the filmmakers make scrolling through a Gmail account or backing out of a driveway seem like the most intense things ever filmed. But it’s a ride that has its share of bumps, and it’s not a digital road trip that you’ll likely want young kids to take with you.

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Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”

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Elden Ring Fan Discovers Shadow of the Erdtree's Missing Dialogue

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Spoilers for Elden Ring 's Shadow of the Erdtree ahead!

A fan of Elden Ring recently uncovered lines of unused dialogue for the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion in the game's internal files. The cut content included dialogue for the expansion's final boss, Radahn.

Reddit user LaMi_1 was looking into the game's files to translate the original Japanese text to see if there were any significant differences between the game's English version when they found unused dialogue intended for Starscourge Radahn . The game was released with Radahn not having any dialogue, which some fans found unsatisfying, and LaMi_1's discovery shows the character wasn't always intended to be so silent. The lines of cut dialogue read: "I am Radahn. Born of red-maned Radagon, and Rennala of the Full Moon. A lion bred for battle." Elden Ring 's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion was released on June 21 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

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Shadow of the Erdtree was a large expansion to the base Elden Ring game, adding a new map and 70 weapons , 10 shields, 39 talismans, 14 new sorceries, 28 incantations, 20 Spirit Ashes, 25 Ashes of War, 30 armor sets as well as new consumables and craftables. The expansion retailed for $39.99, with a premium edition priced at $49.99, and a physical collector's edition priced at $249.99.

Fans Debate Cut Dialogue's Impact on Elden Ring Lore

Fans' discussion on Reddit covered potential meanings behind the unused dialogue, as well as why it may have been cut from the live game. At the end of their original post, LaMi_1 added: "These dialogues are very generic and don't reveal anything we didn't already know, but man, wouldn't be cool to hear his voice? And also, what could this mean lorewise? Maybe was that a small hint that Radahn is aware and willing to fight with us?"

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"I'm not really sure what it would have added," Redditor RoninMacbeth added. "Having Radahn remain a warrior whose vocalizations are the similar growls and grunts he has as the Starscourge helps reinforce that he is Miquella's unwilling partner."

Elden Ring 's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion is now available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

Source: Reddit

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Kill review: india's intense, ultra-violent actioner offers must-see deaths by fire extinguisher.

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Alan Ritchson's Upcoming Action Role Sounds Closer To John Wick Than Jack Reacher

Beverly hills cop: axel f's happy gilmore cameo explained by director, the director who made jason statham a star would be perfect to save his failing $840 million franchise.

  • Indian cinema's rise continues with Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill , featuring intense action inspired by The Raid .
  • The story offers unique twists on the one-man army formula, namely in Amrit's vulnerability and failed attempts to save passengers.
  • Despite character development shortcomings and some limitations in the train setting, Kill delivers a thrilling and subversive action experience.

Indian cinema has been on a steady international rise over the past few years, whether it be the Oscar-winning epic RRR, the record-breaking sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD or Dev Patel's explosive directorial debut Monkey Man . With the upcoming release of Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill , the country's international rise in filmmaking is certainly going to continue in spite of some of the movie's underwhelming elements.

Kill (2023)

Bhat's Kill stars Lakshya as Amrit, an army commando who journeys with his best friend and fellow soldier Viresh to meet with the love of his life, Tanya Maniktala's Tulika, after learning her train tycoon father has arranged for her to be married to someone else. With a plan to meet her in New Delhi and spend time together, Amrit and Viresh surprise her aboard the train taking her to the country's capital. This heartwarming reunion is cut short when a group of ruthless bandits attempt to hijack the train for their own mysterious objective, making for a heart-pounding ride.

Kill Certainly Holds Nothing Back With Its Action

Bollywood is no stranger to the action genre, but Kill is by far one of the most no-holds-barred outings yet, one that looks to have been inspired by a wide range of styles. Unlike many recent one-man army movies that have pulled from the Keanu Reeves-led John Wick movies, Bhat looks to have been inspired by the likes of Gareth Evans' The Raid movies , particularly with the claustrophobic setting and little use of guns throughout the movie.

The movie also delivers some of the most intense deaths by a fire extinguisher ever seen in cinema.

This, in turn, leads to some of the most brutal action scenes in recent memory. Amrit makes surprisingly effective use of his crowded surroundings for maximum damage to the group of train bandits, whether it be slamming their heads against nearby doors and sinks, or the close-quarters architecture of the coaches to narrowly avoid their weapons and attacks. The movie also delivers some of the most intense deaths by a fire extinguisher ever seen in cinema, showcasing Bhat's grit and creativity in wanting to set Kill apart from other Indian action movies.

Despite the action being the movie's biggest strength, and the setting making for some skillful choreography, it does create a few issues in the overall shooting of the fighting. Where The Raid and John Wick have used their larger settings for wider shots and fewer cuts between hits, Bhat finds himself somewhat limited with the space of the train, occasionally taking away from the stylish and hard-hitting fights Amrit and Viresh engage in throughout the movie.

The Story Offers A Few Nice Twists (In Spite Of Its Simplicity)

One element of Kill that ultimately left me feeling somewhat divided was the movie's overall story. Like the aforementioned John Wick movies , as well as Liam Neeson's Taken franchise and Denzel Washington's Equalizer trilogy, Bhat aims for a generally simple setup for the hard-hitting action, quickly establishing Amrit's status as a soldier and his relationship with Tulika. The movie also doesn't take long to get to the catalyst of the bandits terrorizing the passengers aboard the train and Amrit's attempts to stop them.

Despite the more simple set up, Bhat does offer a few unique twists to the one-man army formula, namely the fact that Amrit is not an invincible force to be reckoned with. There are multiple instances in Kill in which he is brought down by some of the foes he faces, including being knocked out and brought to the leader of the bandits on multiple occasions. It's also interesting to watch as Amrit fails numerous times to save various innocent passengers on the train, something not often seen in similar action movies, as the heroes are generally shown failing to only save one or two innocents.

Kill Could Benefit From A Little Deeper Character Work

Lakshya as Amrit looking intense and holding a lighter near the camera in Kill

While the action and story offer a few unique twists to the genre, including a title card that isn't revealed until roughly 45 minutes into the movie, Kill is a little thin when it comes to its overall character development. The bandits frequently make mention of a target they're searching for onboard the train, though it's never explicitly stated why they're looking for them. The movie does attempt to humanize its villains with their reactions to the deaths of their family members, but a better exploration of their motivations would have made for an even more subversive story.

In a post- Monkey Man action world , in which Patel showed just as much devotion to the social commentary at the heart of his story, Kill could better benefit from a deeper plot. Between its lead character being in the army to the mysterious motives of its villains, there is plenty of room for Bhat to have expanded the movie beyond a straightforward actioner. That being said, thanks to the movie's skillfully executed and relentless action and a couple of major twists, Kill largely overcomes its few hurdles to be an absolute thrill ride.

Kill is now playing in theaters.

Kill Movie Poster

When army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out his true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him — turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.

  • The action is skillfully executed and some of the most brutal put to film.
  • Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's story offers a number of unique twists to its simple setup.
  • Lakshya's Amrit feels like a real human being, frequently being beaten down by his enemies.
  • The villains feel generally underdeveloped.
  • Some of the action feels a tad choppy in its editing.
  • The story feels like it could use something deeper.

Kill (2023)

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  • Cast & crew

J.K. Simmons in Red One (2024)

After Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-tro... Read all After Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas. After Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

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  • Chris Morgan
  • Hiram Garcia
  • Dwayne Johnson
  • Chris Evans

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  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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  • Trivia The Wrap reported that Dwayne Johnson 's frequent tardiness, sometimes arriving as late as eight hours and missing entire days of shooting, ballooned the budget to $250 million.
  • How long will Red One be? Powered by Alexa
  • November 15, 2024 (United States)
  • United States
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  • Red One: Mật Mã Đỏ
  • Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  • Amazon MGM Studios
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  • Seven Bucks Productions
  • See more company credits at IMDbPro

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  • Runtime 1 hour 42 minutes
  • Dolby Atmos
  • IMAX 6-Track

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‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Review: Alien Invasion Prequel Arrives Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

Instead of providing answers or much in the way of suspense, director Michael Sarnoski’s contribution stars Lupita Nyong'o as a terminally ill cat owner tiptoeing through a mostly off-screen apocalypse.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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A Quiet Place: Day One

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As it happens, director John Krasinski’s excellent 2020 sequel flashed back to Day One, revealing the pandemonium the aliens’ arrival caused for unsuspecting humans, before jumping forward more than a year in the “Quiet Place” chronology. In theory, what “Day One” promises — but doesn’t actually deliver — is a more expansive look at the mayhem. Most of the action occurs off-screen, and no one (not even the authorities) so much as attempts to fight back.

What about cats? Is Frodo ever really at risk? For the curious, Sarnoski includes a tough-to-decipher scene where a trio of aliens feed on what looks like a feathered version of the ovomorphs from “Alien.” Perhaps this explains why the Death Angels are so aggro: They didn’t pack enough snacks for their intergalactic mission, and Earth doesn’t have what they need. But what do they want?

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, “Day One” is served up as a disaster movie, à la Roland Emmerich’s “Independence Day,” with money shots of the Brooklyn Bridge collapsing into the East River and deserted streets that suggest “I Am Legend” by way of 9/11. Where did everybody go? “Day One” makes it look like just a few hundred people call Manhattan home. Surely New York would be crawling with residents, pouring out of the skyscrapers and into the streets, or else retreating into their apartments. It’s Day One of the invasion, and the city is a ghost town.

It’s kind of a fluke that Samira agreed to come along for a field trip to a Manhattan marionette theater, led by a nurse (Alex Wolff) who should have worn quieter clothes. When the aliens land, they immediately start picking off the noisiest humans. Scream, and you’re toast. Call out for your missing partner or child, and a Death Angel is guaranteed to spring from off-screen and rip you in half. While the characters try their best to keep silent, the film’s sound designers do the opposite, using low tones to make the whole theater rumble (Imax and 4DX viewers can literally feel the attack unfolding off-screen).

In the two previous films, the thrill came from watching how characters reacted to these sinewy, double-jointed monsters, whose rattling, Venom-looking heads fold open in a series of flaps as they stop to listen. The terrifying creatures can’t see, but their sense of hearing is hyper-acute, which is why our world went quiet . For some reason, all that stuff it took humans 474 days to learn in the other movies is already known by the characters in this one (like using running water to confound the aliens).

As Samira hides out in the marionette theater with a crowd of strangers (including Djimon Hounsou, the film’s lone connection to the previous installment), military choppers fly overhead, broadcasting instructions: Keep silent. Stay off the bridges. Carefully make your way to the South Street Seaport, where ships are standing by to evacuate people. As an inexplicably small crowd of survivors move south, Samira and Frodo walk in the opposite direction. She wants that pizza.

Through it all, she remains more committed to protecting her cat — which is ironic, since the animal seems all but guaranteed to attract the wrong kind of attention. It is Frodo who finds Eric and leads him to Samira. Their instant bond feels contrived, though a more charitable viewer might be moved by this nothing-to-lose connection between two lonely souls — what writer-director Lorene Scafaria called “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.”

To his credit, Sarnoski orchestrates a few high-tension set-pieces. But there aren’t nearly enough of these for a movie set in the “Quiet Place” world, as Sarnoski (who put Nicolas Cage through all kinds of nonsensical behavior in “Pig”) winds up putting sentimentality ahead of suspense.

Just compare these movies to the century’s best zombie franchise: “A Quiet Place” ranks up there with “28 Days Later” in its immersive, world-turned-upside-down intrigue. “Part II” was bigger and scarier, à la “28 Weeks Later.” “Day One” ought to have been the mind-blowing origin story, and instead it’s a Hallmark movie, where everyone seems to have nine lives — not just that darn cat.

Reviewed at AMC The Grove, Los Angeles, June 26, 2024. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time:

  • Production: A Paramount Pictures release and presentation, in association with Michael Bay, of a Platinum Dunes, Sunday Night production. Producers: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, John Krasinski. Executive producers: Allyson Seeger, Vicki Dee Rock.
  • Crew: Director: Michael Sarnoski. Screenplay: Michael Sarnoski; story: John Krasinski, Michael Sarnoski, based on characters created by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck. Camera: Pat Scola. Editors: Andrew Mondshein, Gregory Plotkin. Music: Alexis Grapsas.
  • With: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou.

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In quietly powerful 'Fancy Dance,' teen holds out hope of reuniting with her missing mother

Lily gladstone does quality work as the absent woman’s sister, searching for her while bonding with her anxious daughter..

Isabel Deroy-Olson, playing 13-year-old Roki, has great chemistry with Lily Gladstone ("Killers of the Flower Moon"), who plays her Aunt Jax in "Fancy Dance."

Isabel Deroy-Olson (left), playing 13-year-old Roki, has great chemistry with Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), who plays her Aunt Jax in “Fancy Dance.”

It seemed as if every other teen movie from back in the day had a late-story dance scene, e.g., “Fast Times” and “Footloose,” “Pretty in Pink” and “She’s All That,” “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Mean Girls” — and those dances almost invariably involved suburban white kids, most with bright futures.

In Erica Tremblay’s lean and quietly powerful “Fancy Dance,” a 13-year-old girl named Roki can scarcely contain her excitement about an upcoming dance, but the circumstances in this story couldn’t be more different than those old-school high school fairy tales. Roki doesn’t have a crush on a classmate, nor is she dreaming about the upcoming dance giving her a golden opportunity to fit in with the cool kids; she’s hoping against hope that her troubled mother, who has recently disappeared, will resurface at the upcoming Grand Nation Powwow in Oklahoma City and join her for the mother-daughter dance.

In a story that is equal parts thriller, domestic drama and examination of systematic cultural oppression and forced assimilation, Roki sees that dance as her best and perhaps last chance to be reunited with mother, even if that might not be the best thing for her long-term future. It’s her mother .

With Tremblay (who co-wrote the screenplay with Michiana Alise) making a strong directorial debut and eschewing overly romanticized visuals for a stark and docudrama feel, “Fancy Dance” stars Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) in a brilliant performance as Jax, a member of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation in Oklahoma who lives with her sister Tawi (Hauli Sioux Gray) and her 13-year-old niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson).

At the outset of the story, Tawi, who works as an exotic dancer and apparently has a history of irresponsible behavior, has been missing for days, not that the local authorities seem troubled about it. As Jax’s half-brother JJ (Ryan Begay), a tribal police officer, reminds Jax, this is hardly the first time Tawi has gone missing. We get the feeling Jax has been looking after Roki as a kind of second mother for years (we learn the Cayuga word for aunt translates to “little mother”), and they clearly have a loving bond, even as Jax teaches Roki how to pull off clever small-time crime and con jobs.

Roki is brimming with anticipation about the upcoming powwow, and Jax keeps reassuring Roki that her mother will be there, even though Jax knows it’s probable that like so many other Native American girls and women, Tawi has disappeared forever. Jax has a dark past of her own that involved selling drugs and getting mixed up with seriously bad people, and she must re-enter that world in an effort to track down Tawi.

Director Tremblay shows a deft touch for creating almost unbearably tense moments, as when Jax risks her life by delivering drugs to some casually ruthless thugs, just so she can see if they have any information about Tawi’s whereabouts.

At least Jax and Roki have each other — until Jax’s estranged white father Frank (Shea Whigham) re-enters the picture, and a social worker places Roki with Frank and his wife Nancy (Audrey Wasilewski), whom Frank married years ago, after Jax’s mother died. When Jax shows up at Frank’s house in the middle of the night and has Roki run off with her, well, NOW the authorities spring into action. Nobody cared about finding Roki’s mother, but there’s a statewide manhunt to return this kidnapped girl to her white grandparents.

Lily Gladstone and Isabel Deroy-Olson have such an instant and believable chemistry together as Jax and Roki, and our first instinct is to root for them to somehow survive the mess they’re in and wind up living together in their home, but as Jax places Roki in one dangerous predicament after another, we realize that’s probably not the best-case endgame scenario. (Director/co-writer Tremblay makes sure that Frank and Nancy, while culturally clueless and virtual strangers to Roki, are not portrayed as caricatures.) It will be tragic if Roki is taken from her home, but it becomes increasingly apparent that her home won’t be there for her anymore.

Given the circumstances, there’s no road that “Fancy Dance” can take that will lead to a happy ending — but it does end on a pitch-perfect final note.

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COMMENTS

  1. Missing movie review & film summary (2023)

    Missing. " Missing " isn't exactly a sequel to " Searching ," but rather another installment in what feels like a burgeoning Searching Cinematic Universe. It features a brief reference to the mystery within the 2018 hit film during a breathless, early montage, part of an amalgamation of sights and sounds that puts us on edge from the ...

  2. Missing (2023)

    Julia my Daughter twin this movie is so good Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/19/23 Full Review EILEEN J Many twists in this movie. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/22/23 ...

  3. 'Missing' review: A mother vanishes, and a tense thriller ensues on

    When her mother goes 'Missing,' a Gen-Z teen takes up a tense search on screens. June (Storm Reid) is on the case when her mother disappears during a vacation with her boyfriend. It is a truth ...

  4. Missing (2023)

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  5. 'Missing' Review: Mom's Lost in the Matrix

    Javier has only a two-and-a-half star rating, but he's so good that I spent the film hoping June would take a minute to write him a glowing review. Missing. Rated PG-13 for teen drinking and ...

  6. Missing

    Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 25, 2023. Jack Bottomley Starburst. Missing does unleash some mighty big twists and turns, at points stretching the very credulity it successfully builds ...

  7. Missing (2023)

    June Grace ( Storm Reid), a teenage girl, investigates her mother's ( Nia Long) disappearance through various technological means, Such as Ring, FaceTime, and Instagram. The movie gets better as it progresses, building an entertaining sense of thrill as the mystery comes alive with two refreshing plot twists.

  8. 'Missing' Review: Storm Reid Does Her Detective Work by Screens

    'Missing' Review: Amateur Sleuth Storm Reid Does Her Detective Work by Screens in 'Searching' Sequel Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, Jan. 12, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13.

  9. Missing (2023) Review

    Published on 17 04 2023. Release Date: 20 Apr 2023. Original Title: Missing (2023) Released in 2018, Searching seemed the natural cinematic response to a generation of people raised and nourished ...

  10. Missing

    Missing - Metacritic. 2023. PG-13. Stage 6 Films. 1 h 51 m. Summary When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June's (Storm Reid) 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 ...

  11. Review: 'Missing' turns up more terrors in tech and true crime

    Jan. 18, 2023 1:40 PM PT. In 2018, director Aneesh Chaganty and co-writer Sev Ohanian turned in a nifty little thriller, "Searching, " that comments on the way we live now, which is to say ...

  12. Missing (2023) Review

    Missing (2023) movie Review and Plot Summary. The story follows an 18-year-old high school student named June (A Wrinkle in Time's Storm Reid), a teenager who has lived with the trauma of her father's dying of cancer when she was a small child. She lives in that moment daily.

  13. Missing Movie Review

    Missing Movie Review. 1:06 Missing Official trailer. Missing. Community Reviews. See all. Parents say (7) Kids say (29) age 11+ Based on 7 parent reviews . Katie M. Parent of 8, 11 and 15-year-old. January 30, 2023 age 12+ Not as scary as described

  14. Missing (2023) Movie Review

    Digital storytelling format is highly effective again. Aneesh Chaganty's minimalist Searching (2018) set a pretty high standard for a relatively new storytelling format. With Missing, the filmmaker settled as the writer/producer and handed over the reins to Nick Johnson and Will Merrick. It is safe to say that Missing follows a mostly similar ...

  15. Missing, 2023's best mystery thriller, is now on Netflix

    Missing is the 2023 follow-up to 2018's Searching and follows June Allen ( Storm Reid ), a teenager who never really knew her father and loves (but doesn't always get along with) her doing-her ...

  16. Movie Review: "Missing"

    Movie Review: "Missing" June Allen defines a modern teenager: as resourceful, adept, technology-centric, cunning, and fearless. The character will need all of her faculties as she tries to find her missing mom in Nick Johnson's and Will Merrick's riveting Missing , now in theaters.

  17. Missing (2023 film)

    Missing is a 2023 American screenlife mystery thriller film written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson (in their feature directorial debuts) from a story by Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty, who also produced the film with Natalie Qasabian.The film is a standalone film in the universe of Searching (2018). It stars Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel ...

  18. 'Missing' reboots the 'Searching' formula while flipping the

    "Missing" flips the generational script, in a movie that's still plenty twisty and watchable while laboring, perhaps inevitably, to hit "refresh" on the formula. CNN values your feedback 1.

  19. Missing Movie Review for Parents

    Missing Rating & Content Info . Why is Missing rated PG-13? Missing is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material.. Violence: A person has a nosebleed.There is mention of a fatal case of cancer. People are abducted and confined. Characters are hit and threatened.

  20. Missing movie review: A solid thriller that keeps you guessing

    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.

  21. 'Missing' movie review: Not original, but pretty fun. With Storm Reid

    June, played by Storm Reid, is your typical prickly 18-year-old. Raised by her mother Grace (Nia Long), June has entered a time in her life where she feels ready to escape parental guidance. June ...

  22. Missing

    Missing is a "standalone sequel" to Searching. Much like its predecessor, it stars someone desperately scouring technological rabbit trails to determine what happened to a missing family member. In fact, every second of this mystery thriller unfolds via various phone and laptop screens—the foremost being the laptop of our central ...

  23. Missing

    Chris Stuckmann reviews Missing, starring Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel Henney, Nia Long. Directed by Will Merrick, Nick J...

  24. Elden Ring Fan Discovers Shadow of the Erdtree's Missing Dialogue

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  25. Kill Review: India's Intense, Ultra-Violent Actioner Offers Must-See

    Indian cinema has been on a steady international rise over the past few years, whether it be the Oscar-winning epic RRR, the record-breaking sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD or Dev Patel's explosive directorial debut Monkey Man.With the upcoming release of Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill, the country's international rise in filmmaking is certainly going to continue in spite of some of the movie's ...

  26. 'Fancy Dance' review round-up: Lily Gladstone 'delivers yet ...

    The relationships in the movie are depicted authentically." Valerie Complex of Deadline praises the film, stating, "There is an epidemic of missing Indigenous women throughout the US and Canada.

  27. Red One (2024)

    Red One: Directed by Jake Kasdan. With Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons. After Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

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    'A Quiet Place: Day One' Review: Alien Invasion Prequel Arrives Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing Reviewed at AMC The Grove, Los Angeles, June 26, 2024. MPA Rating: PG-13.

  29. 'Fancy Dance' review: In quietly powerful Apple TV+ film, teen holds

    In quietly powerful 'Fancy Dance,' teen holds out hope of reuniting with her missing mother Lily Gladstone does quality work as the absent woman's sister, searching for her while bonding with ...

  30. Watch Missing Home

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