Directed by: Will Merrick and Nicholas D. Johnson
Starring: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung, Daniel Henney, Joaquim de Almeida, Tim Griffin, Megan Suri, Amy Landecker
Missing is told in the same narrative style as Searching (2018), in which the action is seen solely through computer screens, FaceTime, cameras, and other sometimes contrived methods which still manage to flow smoothly enough for us to be caught up in the suspense of a missing woman named Grace (Long). In Searching, a father was frantically searching for his missing daughter. In Missing, the roles are reversed, and the daughter is trying desperately to find her mother who was expected to return home from Colombia with her new boyfriend Kevin (Leung) and neither showed up when the plane landed in Los Angeles.
Like Searching, one of June's parents is met in the beginning of the film and then we learn has died. Missing picks up years later with Grace and June now relocated to Los Angeles. Grace puts herself out there on a dating site and meets Kevin, who seems like Mr. Right but June nurtures suspicions about him. Slowly, June discovers why she had trepidations about him. The way June maneuvers her way through and around websites, passwords, firewalls, cameras, and the latest technology with expert ease, we sense this eighteen year-old has a job as a CIA hacker in her future. She could teach the NSA a thing or two. We grant this so the story can unfold.
I wouldn't dream of giving away any myriad plot twists which may or may stand up to scrutiny, but as they're happening we go with it because Missing is suspenseful and energetically told, with a sometimes satirical look at media blitz coverage of the missing couple and conspiracy theorists who are no longer on the fringes, but whose views are spouted on numerous upstart podcasts and are sometimes taken as gospel by the public. If you don't believe me, you would be surprised to learn how many people take Alex Jones' side when it comes to the horror of the Sandy Hook shootings.
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