Las desapariciones

The premise of this film that the main character (played by Cate Blanchett) is a rancher and doctor living in the wilds of New Mexico. Her daughter is kidnapped by a group of outlaws led by a psychopathic witch doctor. At the same time, her estanged father (played by Tommy Lee Jones) enters her life, and she is faced with her deep hatred of him, weighed against her need for his help. The rest of the story I won't give away.

I've read whisperings of Oscar nominations, which may be a fair statement, but although these rumors have been directed towards Blanchett, I would say that Jones had the stronger performance. Blanchett was excellent as well though, depicting a hard-laboring no-nonsense rancher perfectly, not trying to inject any glamour into her role whatsoever, as might have been the case if certain other big name actresses had played the role. I am forever amazed by Blanchett's versatility! The girls playing the daughters were excellent

too, specially the youngest one, who had a number of intense emotional scenes.

I liked the bleak feeling presented in the film...the raw climate, the hopelessness combined with determination that the characters portrayed. The heroic rescue attempts were not without their screw-ups, making the story much more realistic than a typical Western shoot-em-up hero movie.

I also enjoyed the element of mysticism, which was pulled off without being too corny. The main villain in this film was quite possibly the creepiest, ugliest villain to grace the screen in years! Yet somehow it wasn't too trite either.

My personal beef with most Hollywood epics is that friggin' annoying sweeping soundtrack music, which practically spells out to you how you are supposed to feel, replacing the emotion that should have been created by the acting and directing. Thankfully, the soundtrack didn't overwhem this film. Just some well placed ambient music which supplemented the scenes nicely.

Definitely one of the better films I've seen lately. I rate it 8/10.

`The Missing' is as close to a feminist movie as can be telling a story that engrosses on the traditional level of the Western without offending warring cultural factions. Cate Blanchette plays a frontier single mom and local healer, whose teenage daughter is abducted by Apaches and army deserters to sell for prostitution in Mexico.

She must find her daughter and also deal with her estranged father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who deserted his family 20 years ago to live with the Apaches and now tracks them with Blanchette to find his granddaughter.

Blanchette is not John Wayne, who played one of the `Searchers' in John Ford's memorable Western, certainly a source for this story. She lacks Wayne's easy bigotry about Indians, yet she carries toughness in adversity every bit as strong as Wayne at his most macho.

Nor is she Audrey Hepburn in John Huston's `The Unforgiven,' who is mostly protected from abduction-minded Kiawas by Burt Lancaster. No, Blanchette carves out a memorable stand-alone heroine in another sterling performance, certainly one of the top 2 actresses in film today.

Cinematographer Salvatore Totino uses aerial shots to capture the vast but imprisoning New Mexico landscape; James Horner's swelling music now and then feels as if it can't wait for another `Titanic'; Ron Howard's direction is unobtrusive, in the same way he allowed Russell Crowe to save Howard's middling `Beautiful Mind' screenplay. Actually Howard prepared himself by directing the Mel Gibson `Ransom,' also about abduction and pursuit.

The realism starts in the first scene with Blanchette extracting a tooth from an almost toothless hag and proceeds with multiple bloody encounters, too many for me in a long movie that could have edited out several encounters. But seeing Blanchette and Jenna Boyd as her younger daughter act with apparent full chops is to be happy that we no longer have to rely on Wayne for rugged individualism. As Gloria Steinem reminds us, `When both sexes realize that either one can be on top, we're all going to enjoy our relationships a lot more.'

The picture deals with a family formed by the mother (Cate Blanchett) , two daughters and her lover (Aaron Eckart ). The grandfather (Tommy Lee Jones) appears after long time . Then , the oldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by the Chiricaghua Apaches and they set out in looking her for . They will have to confront a lot of dangers and they will track down a group of Indians commanded by a villain and ominous sorcerer . The confrontation will be terrible .

In the film there are shootouts , noisy action , wonderful landscapes , fights and a little bit of violence . In the support cast of the film appears various actors who usually play Indians roles , such as Eric Schweig and Steve Reevis , because being native origin , and both of them along with Tommy Lee Jones learned some words of the Chiricaghua language . Eric Schweig along with Wes Studi , Graham Greene , Tantoo Cardinal , Michael Spears , Rodney A Grant and Floyd Westerman , among others , appear in almost all movies with Indians , starting with : ¨Dancing with wolves¨ and continuing with ¨The last Mohican¨ . And a brief role for Val Kilmer, who previously worked together director Ron Howard in Willow , as Kilmer lives on a nearby New Mexico ranch, agreed to producers a secondary cameo in this film . The motion picture didn't obtain success and was a real flop at box office , in spite of the extraordinary sets (New Mexico) , enjoyable cinematography and atmospheric musical score by the great James Horner. The flick will appeal to Indians western fans

Ron Howard directs Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, Evan Rachel Wood, and Val Kilmer in "The Missing," a 2003 western.

Cate Blanchett plays Maggie Gilkeson, a medical woman in 1885 New Mexico, where she lives with her daughters and a ranch hand Brake (Aaron Eckhart), who is also her lover. One day, her father Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones) shows up after 20 years. She wants nothing to do with him as he left the family to go live with the Indians.

He finally gets the message and takes off, only to become drunk in town and land in jail. Meanwhile, Maggie's daughter Lily has been kidnapped and Brake murdered, apparently by Indians. Unable to get help from the sheriff, Maggie reluctantly has her father released from jail and asks for his help in finding her daughter.

Lily and other girls have been kidnapped with the intention of selling them into prostitution. The kidnappers are a combination of renegade Indians and whites who are working with them. Maggie, her father, and her young daughter, who refuses to be left behind, set out on their trail.

Glorious-looking film that points up the brutality of life in the west, as well as the filth, and the strength that people had to have to survive. A woman had to be able to use a rifle, hunt, skin a deer, and do all the things that the men had to do.

My understanding is that this film bombed; I'm not sure why. It has wonderful performances and no expense was spared, and also, as far as the violence, seems realistic.

Cate Blanchett gives a magnificent performance as Maggie, a determined woman made of steel, who doesn't care what her father does for her - she still hates him. Tommy Lee Jones is a no-nonsense faux Indian (he might be part-Indian - this isn't made clear, but it seems unlikely) who knows his way around and believes in all the Indian lore. In one striking scene, Maggie becomes extremely ill -- according to Samuel, the brujo (Indian witch) put a curse on her. He calls in one of the Indians helping them to break the spell; meanwhile, her daughter reads the Bible out loud.

"The Missing" is reminiscent of "The Searchers" but here, the relationship between Samuel and Maggie goes a little deeper than thqt of Martin and Ethan. Maggie slowly moves from dislike to an uneasy alliance to a limited understanding of Samuel and finally, acceptance and gratitude, even if it's without total understanding. For Samuel, he is doing what he was told to do by a medicine man -- return to his family and protect them.

Truly excellent film, an old-fashioned western in many ways, intertwined with a strong relationship story and suspense.

Maggie Gilkeson is a single mother working as a doctor in New Mexico. She is hardy and seemingly strong. When an old man with Indian looks shows up seeking treatment, she finds that he is her father, whom she has blamed for her mother's death when he abandoned them as a child. She rejects his attempts to apologise and sends him on his way. When an Indian raiding party kidnaps Maggie's eldest, Lily, she has to turn to Samuel for his ability to track them.

With so few westerns being released to our multiplexes it is important not to go crazy with hype when one is released. In the UK we will have this film and Open Range released within a few weeks of one another and nearly every review you read can't help but draw attention to that as if somehow the recent Westerns we've had are some sort of golden age. I watched this just as I watch any film of any genre, whether the western happens to be neglected recently or not. The plot here is basically the journey and Jones' attempts at a sort of redemption. The film is perhaps a touch long, but it still fills the running time well. The action stuff is good but it is also well complimented by the more emotional core. It isn't perfect of course, but it does well and makes for an engaging and entertaining film. Of the things I'd like to have seen gone, the whole black magic side of the film didn't work for me and gave the story a mysticism that I didn't think it actually needed.

The cast are very good though. Jones manages to actually play an unexplained white man who was `with the Indians' without it being unbearably laughable. He is a more interesting character than the writing would have done alone or with a lesser actor. Blanchett makes up for her dire work in LOTR with a gutsy performance that gradually transforms as the film goes. Schweig is a great baddie despite his low screentime. It is good that the PC brigade didn't mean that this character had to be twisted in keeping with the modern cliché that all Indians are moral and upright. Boyd is much better here than in that terrible Dickie Roberts thing. She does have to do a little too much screaming at times but generally is up to the task. Support from Kilmer, Clint Howard and others are welcome in support and there is not really a weak link in the cast.

Overall this is not a great western, and wouldn't really stand out in the genre. However it is one of the better films out in the cinema right now. It has a good central story with reasonably good characters and it is only the mystical stuff and some weaknesses in the script that stops it being better.