Missing

I genuinely enjoyed 90% of the film. The idea of having this young woman sleuthing through little more than the apps on her phone and laptop was quite well presented. So much so that, frankly, the scenes set outside that computer setting looked uninspired and slapdash, namely any of the cable news programming and police news conferences. The silly little things we all experience with the internet and social media were solidly, often amusingly, displayed (my favorite perhaps being the slight hesitation deciding whether a front edge of a bumper constitutes part of a yellow school bus in a CAPTCHA picture).

And sure, there are numerous plot holes, mainly due to trying to maintain the mystery (the who?, how?, why? Only come into question after the reveal). But all this can be ignored, as the movie was genuinely engrossing for the majority of the picture. Until... the reveal, which, no spoiler, is sadly predictable. And while I don't entirely object to the nature of the resolution itself, the movie oddly changes pace into a rather pedestrian imitation of an action-thriller. I really wish it had been able to maintain its core atmosphere, and not descend into the ordinary.

June becomes concerned when her mother Grace doesn't return home from a trip to Colombia with her new partner Kevin.

First off, if you've seen Searching, you'll be very aware that it was made by the same people, I loved that, I loved this one.

What a clever plot, it's just a good old fashioned mystery, but one with a twist, this time it's the child searching for the parent, and instead of physically searching, she does it all with technology, makes a change to see tech given a positive spin.

Edge of the seat viewing, it is full of twists and surprises, you never know what is coming next, it doesn't follow any of the usual conventions. It didn't bore me for a second, what a triumph in writing.

Storm Reid was excellent as June I thought, a convincing performance, you really did get a sense of June's desperation and frustration.

9/10.

Directors Nicholas Johnson and Will Merrick return to the big screen with Missing, a similar albeit much improved rendition of their 2018 film Searching. This time around, they excel at building up tension, allowing the audience to breathe momentarily, and then plunging you right back into the drama with a new discovery. The script demanded plenty from Storm Reid, playing the protagonist June, but the lead actor holds her own, often able to dig deep for the emotionally rich scenes, which tend to come regularly in a movie depicting a voracious girl in a race against time to find her missing mother. But just as important as any actor on the silver screen is the score in the background, and Julian Scherle's score quickly caught my attention and brilliantly helped develop the atmosphere. Although there are aspects of the film that can be considered implausible, I find it difficult to hold that against it. The main character is virtually a Sherlock Holmes-level sleuth, not to mention her uncanny ability to operate a computer at the speed of light. Yet the movie requires those two plot devices in order to move forward. I went into this film with tempered expectations, but I think Johnson and Merrick are starting to get the hang of this fully computer-based movie subgenre.

I loved Searching (2018) so I was surprised that it was getting a standalone sequel.

For the most part, this is a worthy sequel that retains the great visuals and the compelling mystery of Searching (2018). Storm Reid is the main lead and she gives a great performance. Her character doesn't have a great relationship with her mother and she isn't exactly being great to her. Despite that, the movie gets you to really root for her because you see her desperation and regret once her mother is missing.

I do have a couple of gripes that make me enjoy it less than Searching (2018).

1. I find it hard to believe that the police wouldn't have access to the emails needed for the investigation.

2. Once the reveal happens, I question a lot of the overly complicated plan and the believability of it.

3. I also can't believe Javier has a 2.8 star out of 5 for his service. That guy is an MVP!

Just like Searching (2018), the mystery keeps you gripped with every twist and turn. It's a great mystery worth watching!

This movie had no right to go this hard and be so entertaining. I'm likely the demographic for this type of movie, as it takes place entirely on screens and the lead is just a bit younger than me, but I typically find "fully online" movies to be boring, but this movie was exceptional. The clues are laid out but in a way where they are not super obvious, though the reveals with the clues later on are believable. The acting in this film was also much better than I was anticipating. An issue with movies like this are that there is no HD camera, so the visual aspect of acting is difficult to pull off, but the voices alone make the conversations work, and the visuals aren't too bad either. The movie works so well because of its emotional core and because of Javi, the best character. He seems like a genuinely nice dude who was played expertly by his actor, and I was rooting for him and June the whole movie.