CNN
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Released in 2018, “Searching” was made before the coronavirus pandemic, but in hindsight is claustrophobically focused on a father who scours the web for clues to his missing daughter. “Missing” flips the screenplay of generations. The film, perhaps inevitably, still has quite a few twists to watch while it struggles to “refresh” the formula.
This time perhaps aptly, 18-year-old June (Storm Reed in “Euphoria”) is forced to go hunting when her widowed mother (Nia Long) doesn’t return on time from her trip to Colombia. . her new boyfriend (Ken Leung). It doesn’t help that June was aloof and surly – frustrated by her mother’s absence on Father’s Day – her search uncovered clues and shocking secrets in almost equal measure. As I did so, the guilt prompted me to go hand in hand with surprise.
Written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, who edited the previous film starring John Cho, “Missing” once again filters the audience’s view through computer screens and shows how people can be traced online from their credit cards. have a great deal of fun in demonstrating Receipts and mobile phone locations for ringing video and cameras in busy tourist areas.
Putting daughters in the case lends itself to the overall notion of how well different generations have mastered technology, including the ability to navigate advancements like Facetime and crack passwords smarter than June’s mother. Add some funny wrinkles.
Still, “Missing” seems to be plagued by a desire to not only match but surpass its predecessor, turning down a few tortured turns in the final stretch. Until then, the film does an admirable job of pointing a frantic June in many directions and keeping the audience guessing as conflicting information drips down, in a state of constant turmoil that Reed conveys wonderfully.
Various experiments with relatively inexpensive Zoom-style filmmaking took place during the Covid quarantine era, but “Search” not only preceded the trend, but generally with better results than most that followed. Achieved.
“Missing” tries to recycle the concept rather than try to reinvent it. The more your audience looks forward to it, the more they will enjoy it. Still, even with that tolerance in mind, this computerized detective thriller is already starting to run in low-power mode, which should be taken as a caveat to plans for future sequels (or reboots).
“The Missing” will premiere in US theaters on January 20th. The rating is PG-13.
