Missing 2023

-

 


Picture is owned by Sony Pictures


     We are back, with the review of "Missing". I do feel a little rusty, so please bear with me as I get back to this. I hope to have multiple reviews for you all by the end of the weekend.

 When "Searching" came out in 2018, it was met with positive reviews and made 75 million with a budget of just under 1 million, it was no surprise that they would try to replicate it in any way they could. With "Searching " be a one and done story, how do you continue the formula. Let us discuss.....

    The premise is simple and to the point.  June Allen (Storm Reid) is a teenager who tries to find her missing mother (Nia Long) after she disappears in Colombia with her new boyfriend.

    I will say that something, that works well and continues from "Searching", is the use of the phones and computers to tell this story. The use of this still feels fun, and inventive. This makes something that should feel generic come across more original. When it comes to my thoughts of my views on how the "unfriended" series used their internet setting, see those reviews.

    There are two specific performances that help to sell this film. Storm Reid as the lead, June needs to be solid, or you don't have a film. She carries this, she is able to take it from spoiled teen to scared and desperate. She pulls it off beautifully and should be someone to watch out for in future lead roles. There is a private investigator that helps June along the way, named Javi played by Joaquim de Almedia. I have watched him in things since I was a kid. It was a treat to see him in something new. I can say that Almedia and Reid probably never interacted during the making of this movie, but a testament to their talents, the relationship felt genuine and one that I rooted for throughout the film.

  When it comes to mystery films, you are only as good as your ending. The ending here does not feel earned. Personally, I believe it is the twist. Without spoiling it feels more Lifetime movie, than something that knocks me out of my seat. It is hard to not compare it "Searching”. Spoilers to anyone who has not seen it but let's be honest it's been out for a while, so come on! When it is revealed that Detective Vick is covering for her kid, it feels awesome. It is something that you do not see coming and pays off.

    Overall, there was a lot that did not come together at the end. Most everything surrounding the character of Kevin. None of his motivations are explained, felt like there were a lot of loose ends with him that end up tying directly into the disappointing ending. Perhaps more screentime with him could have fixed it.

 To sum it up, not a terrible movie just a bit of a letdown. 

GRADE:C+

What did you guys think? If you've seen it sound off in the comments!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unfriended: Dark Web

-
Image
    I would be the first to admit, when the original "Unfriended" dropped in 2014, I was not expecting to enjoy it. I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. I always thought though, there is no need to make a sequel. Alas.. we fast forward to 2018, and there is a sequel.     The story revolves around Matias, who finds a great laptop, in his local internet cafe's lost and found. Since it has been there for weeks, he takes it. Later that night, while playing a game night over Skype, he begins to discover some terrible things.    One of the problems that plagued both of the films was the acting. In most of these cases, the actors from these films, do not have a lot of experience. It unfortunately, caries over to this film. When the story got to the climax, the line delivery got a little rough.    What really worked for the first one, was essentially, everyone was a terrible person. As the story progresses, you find out the terrible things t...
Read more

Triple 9

-
Image
     When it comes to cop films, for the most part, I tend to be a huge fan. When this came out, I was not very sure what to expect from it because there was such little press for it.     A professional group of thieves lead by Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) does the biding of Irina Vlaslov ( Kate Winslet). The guys want out of her buiding, but her being a big player in the Russian mafia, she gets what she wants. She drags the crew into a final heist with a huge payoff, what could possibly go wrong?        The biggest thing that hurt this film was the scope was so huge for this film with how many characters it has. It is hard to care or, for that matter get to know any Of the characters when the time spent with them is so short. On top of that, this film does not go in any new directions for the crime thrillers. I feel like if they may have added twenty to thirty minutes to get to know all the characters it may have added an edge it do...
Read more

The Ridiculous Six

-
Image
   The Ridiculous Six is the start of the long contract that Adam Sandler signed with Netflix. It comes in the form of the spoof of the classic Magnificent 7.      In the story it surrounds White Knife (Adam Sandler) and his seemingly perfect life with the apache tribe. Things get a little messy when his long absent father (Nick Nolte) shows up and is subsequently kidnapped. Fifty thousand dollars is needed to set him free, so White Knife takes it upon himself to rob the terrible people of the West to get his father back. Along the way he finds out that he has many other brothers in the shape of Taylor Lautner, Terry Crews, Rob Schneider, Jorge Garcia, and Luke Wilson.      Through most of the later of Sandler's Carter you could at least count on his movies being entertaining. This film seemed choppy in places when it came to the story. None of the jokes seemed to really work. It's hard to say but Sandler has done so much better even in recent...
Read more