221. Missing; movie review

 

MISSING

Cert 15

106 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong threat, violence, domestic abuse

Having been a keen critic of found footage movies for many years, I am pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised by Missing and its live take on the genre.

Sure, there are continuity issues but the use of a variety of cameras, rather than just hand-held, gives it greater credibility than most.

Missing is essentially an old-fashioned thriller and stars Storm Reid as June, a disaffected teenager left home alone when her mum (Nia Long) holidays in Colombia with her boyfriend (Ken Leung).

Photos sent by the latter seem to indicate they are having a great time and June takes the opportunity to party.

But there is no sign of them when she goes to pick them up from the airport on their scheduled return.

And from that point on, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson's movie grabs with its many twists and surprises after it becomes clear the pair have disappeared.

Reid draws the audience in with her performance as June. At first, she seems self-centred and arrogant but it gradually becomes obvious that is a cover for her insecurities.

But she is also a tech wizard, so she understands how to go about tracing her mum even when the US authorities seem less than helpful.

Anyway, these various tech avenues, as well a CCTV, make up the film's camera work.

Inevitably, Missing isn't perfect and has a couple of key plot elements that don't make sense.

To highlight them would spoil the movie but they did prompt me to exclaim: "That can't happen!".

Nevertheless, if those slices of reality can be ignored, Missing delivers much more than expected, given its very low budget.

Reasons to watch: Taunt thriller

Reasons to avoid: A couple of basic mistakes

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? The ceasefire agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels and increased security forces in cities and along major roads have led to a kidnappings falling by 92% since 2000. 

The final word. Producer Sev Ohanian: "We did it very economically, that's one of the appealing things about this as a franchise. For Searching, we were able to make it for under a million ($880,000) and with a very small print and advertising budget." Forbes

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