Missing is a stand-alone sequel to the 2018s fantastic Searching. It is a very, very similar movie, but I think that the studio here has really found their niche with this style of desktop/mobile phone/internet thriller. With that in mind, if you loved Searching, you will love Missing, but if you did not like Searching, I do not see this one doing it for you either.
How to Download Missing (2023)
You can expect Missing to become eventually available on Netflix. Click on the Download button at the end of this review to check the current availability.
The Movie Review
Like Searching, Missing is a story about a person that is missing and someone trying to find them. The difference here is that it is the child who is looking for their parent whereas it was the opposite in the previous movie. What I think really sells this is the casting of Storm Reid as June who makes you believe everything that she says and does.
While the story being told here is its own story, I think that it is really cool the way that Missing starts by showcasing the events that went down in Searching in the form of a news report. We get to see little bits of the story on Searching in the background and it is a great way to keep this connected to Searching, but also not force it to be connected in terms of its story if that makes sense.
The plot of the movie is really fun. June is a teenager who lives with her mom, Grace, who is about to go on vacation with her boyfriend Kevin to Columbia. The week goes by and June gets along fine and does the stuff that you would expect a teenager who is left home alone to do.
Now, June is tasked with picking up her mother and Kevin from the airport, but they do not show up. This rings alarm bells for June and she starts to worry. Footage soon shows up of her mother being abducted and it actually makes the national news and becomes a major deal online.
June is stuck at home in the USA but starts investigating her mother. June’s investigation is a lot of fun to see, because of the performance of Storm Reid and she hires a guy in Columbia, Javier to do some detective work for her. Javier is played by Joaquim de Almeida and he is fantastic. The chemistry he has with June is amazing, even more so when you consider they are not face-to-face.
Missing is a movie that has some really big surprises that you will not see coming. While there are some great twists and turns, parts of the movie are predictable and I can see why some will say it goes off the rails towards the end. It was a fun mystery story and every bit as good, if not just a bit better than Searching.
I used to like found footage movies when they were all the rage and I think that this new style of found footage movie we get with Missing and Searching before it is really cool. The actors here nail it and make you invested in what is happening. I also think the way the movie is shot is very clever too with so much happening on the various screens that on repeat viewings, I am sure you will discover more little things.
