Time: 111 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence
Cast:
Storm Reid as June Allen
Joaquim de Almeida as Javier Ramos
Ken Leung as Kevin Lin
Amy Landecker as Heather Damore
Megan Suri as Veena
Tim Griffin as James Walker
Daniel Henney as Agent Elijah Park
Nia Long as Grace Allen
Director: Will Merrick, Nick Johnson

From the posters and imagery, Missing looked similar to Searching, which was a huge success when it was released back in 2018. As it turns out, Missing is directed by the editors of that movie, and served as something of a sequel. While a follow up was not necessary, I was curious to see what they would do here, and I actually quite liked it.

The premise for Missing is very similar to Searching’s, instead of a father looking for his disappeared daughter, it’s about a daughter looking for her disappeared mother. As said before, Missing is a sequel to Searching; there is a visible enough link to that movie earlier on, but on the whole it is standalone and doesn’t require you to watch that film beforehand. Like with Searching, Missing uses its narrative gimmick well, with it taking place on phones and computers. It ups the stakes and tension and goes bigger with larger twists and turns, and even has some effectively creepy and tense moments. It is also a bit pulpier, taking leaps of logic in its plot. It’s certainly got some holes compared to Searching and it gets a bit messy and absurd, especially in the third act. Still, it is imaginative and creative, the emotional arc is handled well, and it is paced well across that 100 minute runtime.

Storm Reid gives a great performance in the lead role, conveying her competent and likable character well as she attempts to find her mother. She does a stellar job at carrying this movie. The supporting cast are good too, Joaquim de Almeida is a standout as someone who helps Reid’s character in the story.

Searching editors turned directors Nick Johnson and Will Merrick also do a good job at helming this movie. Once again, the film takes advantage of its general gimmick of only taking footage from screens and cam/phone footage, and it works. There’s so much detail on screen, and they try to make it as cinematic as possible. It could’ve felt like a copy of what came before, but they do just enough to make it feel fresh. Through the technology and websites used here, you can tell that it definitely takes advantage of the fact that it takes place in 2023 rather than 5 years ago, and represents that fairly well. The editing is excellent and they do a good job at keeping things moving quickly. They also do well at raising tensions, especially with the zoom ins and zoom outs.

Missing is a far fetched but tense and entertaining thriller, with great performances (especially from Storm Reid) and clever direction. If you liked Searching, I’d definitely recommend checking this out too.