Searching is a favorite movie of mine. It hit all of my sweet spots. I enjoy all forms of Found Footage. I respect the challenge of Searching only being told via computer screens. And, since I’m very bad at predicting twists or trying to solve mysteries as I watch something, I got to enjoy every new turn and development as the movie progressed. I had an absolute blast watching it in theaters and I still enjoy watching the process of it in repeat viewings. I wasn’t aware that Missing was being made, but when I found out there was a pseudo-sequel to Searching coming out, I was a lock to see it.
Missing does share much of Searching’s DNA. It’s also a story of a protagonist finding a missing loved one who disappeared, all told through computer screens. This time, it is a teen girl, June (Storm Reid) who goes looking for her mother (Nia Long) after she doesn’t come back from a trip with her boyfriend (Ken Leung) to Colombia. It's all told through assorted devices and June is another person who exclusively uses Facetime and livestreams for every moment of her life.
In the general sense, I got what I needed out of the movie. The story is sufficiently loopy. It's fairly inventive with ways to progress the story through screens. And it embraces the challenge of much of the story being in a completely different country. It's fair to say I'm likely to see any film in this style, simply because I like the style.
However, Missing is the movie I worried Searching would be. It's a very Screen Gems movie. Screen Gems is, of course, Sony's genre wing. I associate it with extreme stories. That Beyonce movie Obsessed is the prototypical Screen Gems movie in my mind. Sort of a throwback thriller that would rather go big than go smart. Missing simply goes too big in every sense. The story itself if huge. There are murders and frame jobs and hidden identities in an international plot. If the Searching story is just barely plausible, the Missing story is completely unbelievable. There's also the feeling of a lot of short cuts. All the footage is super crisp and perfectly lit. To catch scenes, too often the explanation is just that the camera happened to still be on. With the found footage style, I'm pretty lenient on what footage I'll believe, but even I have a line. Missing crosses that line. It makes the mistake of thinking that the reason Searching worked was the style, not the creativity to make the style work.
If it isn't clear by now, my advice is to go watch Searching. If you loooooved Searching, you might like Missing. If you were tepid on Searching, absolutely skip Missing.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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