Missing

Missing

Starring Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung, Joaquim de Almeida

Directed by Nick Johnson & Will Merrick

Back in 2018 there was a small film that was released called "Searching," centering on a single father who's daughter goes missing, and his intensive quest to find out what happened to her. What made the film different was that it was filmed entirely through the screens of laptops, cell phones, and surveillance footage, and it was something of a gimmick at that time which didn't really work for the horror film "Unfriended," but thanks to a committed, career-best performance by John Cho, the film became a sensation and through a highly cerebral story that weaved itself through its stunning twists and turns, became a huge hit. Obviously the film wouldn't garner a sequel, but the concept really took off and now we got the "sister sequel" to "Searching" called "Missing," which once again is filmed through technology, but this time it's about a tech-savvy daughter trying to find her missing mother, utilizing all the newfound technology at her fingertips to find out what happened.

Years after the death of her father, June (Storm Reid) is an eighteen-year-old girl who's a bit rebellious but also deeply cares for her mother Grace (Nia Long), since they're the only ones they have in their lives - until Nia met Kevin (Ken Leung), and they decide to take a vacation to Colombia. While gone she throws a wild party, and thinks all is well until she goes to pick them up at the airport but they don't show up. She starts investigating on her own, and slowly uncovers shocking facts about Kevin that makes it seem like he kidnapped her for some nefarious purposes - until the investigators discover shocking information about Grace that makes it seem like she possibly staged her own disappearance, leading June to dig deeper into her mother's past to try to discover the truth.

It's almost impossible for a gimmick film to garner a sequel, much less make it as engaging and impactful as the original, but "Unfriended" did that with the more grounded "Unfriended: Dark Web," and "Searching" did that with "Missing" - even though the third act spirals a bit into outlandish territory, it does so in a way that makes you feel connected to it all the way through, only afterwards when you think about it do you realize the far out way the story goes, but still you don't mind because of how well-written and performed it was. It also helps that "Missing" isn't exactly a sequel, and this time instead of a single father who has no clue how to operate technology, we get a modern-day Cyber-Sherlock who masterfully utilizes all the tools technology has to offer in order to find her missing mother, and proving that in this fast-paced technology age, it's becoming easier to track people down if you know how to use the tools at your disposal.

Storm Reid takes the spot of John Cho here, and while Cho's presence was ever-present, Reid seems to take a backseat to the technology she uses at a dizzying pace. Whether she's accessing Google emails, hiring a single father to investigate her missing mom's whereabouts in Columbia, or FaceTiming officers, June is on the ball when it comes to finding out information even if it's done illegally - heck, anyone in her situation would do the same thing, and Reid does an excellent job at portraying her sense of fear and helplessness even though she uncovers a lot of information that the police didn't know about. You feel her desperation especially since she's an only child, her father died, and she doesn't have any other family members around, and her sense of urgency drives the film forward at a breakneck pace, keeping you on the edge of your seat as the different shocking twists unfold, culminating to a surprising - if not a bit melodramatic - conclusion.

Just when you think you know where the story is going, writers Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian bobs when you think it weaves, zags when it's supposed to zip, leaving you unsure of what's happening much like June is. The tight, confined space of the screen also pulls you in in a way that feels like you're a part of the story, and not just a passive observer. You feel the emotions, you feel the terror, and you feel every ounce of confusion, anger, and desperation that June goes through. What sets this film apart from "Searching" as well is how far technology has evolved in just four years. When it seems that June's mother is hiding something, it gets revealed to the public and there's several podcasts and vlogs that highlight this and makes June's mother out to be someone bad, which enrages June but makes the audience think twice about what we've already seen - much like fake news and misinformation has inundated the technological landscape today, so too does it rear its ugly head in "Missing" as well.

Proving that a gimmicky product can work well when paired with a thoughtful story and dedicated performances, "Missing" isn't your proverbial "lightning in a bottle" where the sequel is as good as the original, but shows that it can more than hold its own. By using technology and the advancement of it for the betterment of society, the film also serves as a cautionary tale. As easy as it was for June to find Kevin's passwords, we need to have different passwords for different things, and not take technology for granted: it can both help us and destroy us - it only depends on who's on the other end of the screen.

The Score: A