MISSING

If You Text, Chat, Instagram, or Face Time, This is for You!

I do not do the above “modern technology” much, if at all, so at first I was not enthused when I discovered how the movie opened; however, the longer I watched, the more intrigued I became— and I was rather sad when the story ended!

Rated: PG-13 (deserved)….. Basic premise: June Allen, a young girl (adolescent teen?), who has lost her loving and loved father to a brain tumor, tries with all her might to find her missing “single” mother, who had gone on a vacation trip to Colombia with her boyfriend. When June went to meet them at the airport, they are “no-shows!” This Mom has been raising her daughter with no help after her husband’s death. June uses all the modern on-line tools of which I have ever heard and also some new ones!

According to reports, this movie is a sequel of sorts to the 2018 feature, Searching, and opens with some “docudrama” footage from its events. Most reviews I have read have given this show from “good” to “very good” compliments and seem to come from viewers younger than I am! Some of the more “critical” reviews move down to the “average” to “good” areas.

I have never believed that anyone turns up missing without a single trace or clue left behind, and this movie supports what I believe! What did “put me off” was sitting in the theatre and feeling as if I were in front of a computer screen, operated by someone way more “com-puter literate” than I, like maybe my Grandchildren! But, there were enough notes and “speakings” that made me able to follow almost everything! And, as with most movies, some reality has to be suspended to “make things work.”

Governmental “red tape” makes the search so much harder than it already is, and June is thousands of miles distant back in Los Angeles, trying to find the answers before it is too late. But, the more she searches, the more she realizes what she does not know—especially that she did not know as much about her Mom as she had thought and that she needs answers to questions quickly.

Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almieda, Nia Long, Daniel Henney, Ken Leung, Tim Griffin, Amy Landecker, and other able stars make this a good enactment, and, as I foreshadowed earlier, I liked this movie much more by the end than I did at the beginning. I even think I might like to view it again to see what “my old eyes” missed the first time! By the way, my wife, who is more computer literate than I, gave MISSING a “probably a ‘B’ rating!” Check it out and see if June finds her Mom—and if she is still alive.