The movie is titled Missing, and in terms of format and plot, it's almost identical. There are a few tweaks here and there that break away from it being solely in found footage format, and now the process of finding clues is a lot faster because the protagonist is a tech-savvy teenager rather than a bumbling Boomer. Other than that, it feels pretty much the same. It doesn't count as a direct sequel because the plot has almost nothing to do with Searching, other than a reenacted sequence at the start (which serves to confirm it as having happened in the same universe, if nothing else).
Warning - spoilers, spoilers and more spoilers
There are big twists in this movie, and I'm not skilled enough as a reviewer to avoid spoilers. Also, I'm of the opinion that people shouldn't read movie reviews before watching them, so I don't actually care enough to avoid spoilers. Proceed at your own risk!The Premise
While on vacation with her beau, Grace Allen goes missing. It's up to her rebellious Gen Z teen daughter to piece the clues together and locate her parent. This eventually leads to a whole series of twists as assumptions are challenged and theories disproven, until the climatic end where a rather predictable twist occurs.This is an inversion on the plot of its predecessor Searching, which told a story of a parent trawling the internet for clues to the whereabouts of his missing child.
The Characters
Storm Reid as June Allen. She was OK in the role. I didn't hate her. She's no John Cho, but to be fair, no one is.Nia Long as Grace Allen. She did the whole loving-Mom-trying-to-move-on bit with ease. It's only towards the end when the question pops up... moving on from what exactly?
Ken Leung as Kevin Lin. Last saw him in Old. He was awkward or earnest when he needed to be, and has this look of a really crafty, weaselly SOB. In other words, he was perfect.
Tim Griffin is superb as James, June's long-missing father, presumed dead. He switched from sweet dad to abusive husband with terrifying ease, though there were times he kind of went over-the-top.
Amy Landecker is Heather Damore, Grace's heroic lawyer who dies trying to protect the Allens. It strikes me as sad that she died alone and in the most horrific manner.
An uncannily gorgeous Daniel Henney plays FBI Agent Elijah Park, June's ally in the FBI. Other than bits of exposition here and there, he didn't have all that much to do. Honestly, his good looks were a distraction, and I'm saying that as a straight guy!
Megan Suri as Veena, the annoyingly perky BFF of June. She does a good male impersonation and has a good vibe with Javier. Other than that, pretty much peripheral to the plot.
Joaquim de Almeida as Javier Ramos. A kindly elderly man who's a TaskRabbit gig worker. He turns out to be incredibly helpful, becoming June's eyes, ears (and hands and legs) in Colombia. He also gives June a bit of perspective from the viewpoint of a parent, being estranged from his own son.
Lauren B Mosley as Rachel, an aspiring actress who's hired as Grace's body double. Bewildered and clueless. The character, I mean. Actress did just fine.
Tracy Vilar has a couple scenes as Detective Gomez. Overacted a whole lot in the brief scenes she was in. Did not enjoy watching her.
The Mood
It was pedestrian for the first hour, but the tension really kicked up several notches from the time Grace went missing. I was kept on my toes around the last half hour expecting a jump scare every other minute.What I liked
The updated tech used. Back in Searching, it was mostly Facebook and YouTube. Now, five years later, the internet has exploded with all manner of apps. June is seen using things like Instagram, TikTok, Google Translate and tourist destination live cams... even the fictional dating app Luvly!It's really difficult to tell the entire story in second-hand footage format. They managed to pull it off, though there were times it felt like people were trying just a bit too hard. Credit where it's due!
Towards the end, the survival of the characters was never assured. I did not know for sure that either June or Grace weren't going to be killed off.
I liked that little plot point about June reacting to Grace's "I love you" message with a thumbs up (and Grace trolling her with it at the end) because that is absolutely a relatively recent feature of chat apps.
June's desktop screen is so messy. This is so relatable it almost feels like a personal attack.
What I didn't
The part where June goes through the Instagram messages to actually play the clips, and finds out that the woman in the clip is not her mother. OK, that was kind of awesome, until you remember that this thread was meant to act as a false trail for June. Why would Kevin include a clip that wasn't of June's mom?At times, especially towards the end, the plot just got a little too much. The charm of Searching was that most of the plot's premise was easily believable. Missing required a hell of a lot more effort.
June uses a colorful MacBook but her mother Grace uses Windows?! Wow, way to age-stereotype!
Conclusion
I had a good time. This was a decent follow-up. Things threatened to get a little stale, but the movie navigated that well enough, keeping things relatively fresh with a few new visual effects. I retain a certain fondness to its predecessor, but this new offering wasn't as bad as it could have been.Still, there's this feeling that this particular format of movie-making has just about run its course. I was OK with this movie, but there better not be another sequel! Quit while you're ahead, yo.
My Rating
7 / 10I love you, guys! 👍
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