Where I Watched It: Netflix

English Audio Description?: Yes

OK. So, first off, this is an awful title. I know it’s from the team that did Searching, but if you run a quick IMDB search, you can see instantly that this is destined to be forgotten and buried among the titles that are either exactly the same, or a slight variation, like The missing, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett.

I enjoyed Searching for what it was. John Cho is an undervalued actor and it was nice to see him in a film that featured him for basically the entire runtime. it also took an innovative approach to these single location films, as our main character found the internet to be quite useful in his search.

Missing is basically the same film, but swap John cho for Storm Reid, an up and coming talent who has effortless screen presence. in this film, she’s trying to track down her mother (Nia Long) who seems to have vanished while on vacation with her new boyfriend in South America.

So, Reid uses the internet in a 90% believable way, not proving to be an adept hacker, but just using basic search engines, various apps, and social media to try and locate her mother. But, the truth may not set anyone free.

Missing tries to one up Searching by having Reid leave the apartment, and try and keep the computer/internet effect through smart phones and watches. It’s less interesting when she drifts away from her laptop, but also that’s really where the film takes off into its twisty phase.

As far as the audio description, I thought it was really pretty strong. Honestly, since Storm Reid is in a bit of a hurry, and this is pretty close to real time, wasting time on describing her, or any of her real life friends, is not really what you are looking for so much as a detailed description of what she sees on her computer screen, which is done in perfect detail. It tracks her movement, as she visits a website, tries a login, texts on her phone, or video chats with someone. Most of the film takes place on her computer, so in many ways that becomes the central character that requires the most description, even though it isn’t sentient.

It moves along pretty well, and the lead actress is charming enough, but I didn’t think taking the film out of the apartment helped the film, and I definitely don’t think this topped Searching. I question whether or not the twist was worth it, but I think a lot of people will respond to it, and it’s not a dead giveaway.

Final Grade: B