The Missing

UK Release Date. 27 February 2004
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 17 mins
Director. Ron Howard
Cast. Cate Blanchett, Aaron Eckhart, Tommy Lee Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Evan Rachel Wood.
Rating. 62%

Review.

Based on a 1995 novel, The Last Ride by Thomas Eidson, Ron Howard's The Missing cannot escape inevitable comparisons with John Ford's seminal western, The Searchers. 

Set in 19th-century New Mexico, rancher Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett) sees her teenage daughter, Lily (Evan Rachel Wood) abducted by a group of renegade Apaches intent on taking her across the Mexican border to sell her to the highest bidder.

The Missing is pretty much one drawn-out chase. Maggie is accompanied on the pursuit by her estranged father, Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones). In the westerns of yesteryear, Blanchett's character would have merely been portrayed as a helpless damsel in distress, but here Maggie is a strong female character, albeit, one that is apparently cold and pious. It is therefore difficult to fully engage with her.

The Missing is a dark western with supernatural undertows. The supernatural theme would have worked more successfully if it had been addressed as often as it was in the original source material, where it is used as a counter to Maggie's staunch Christian beliefs. 

Whilst Native Americans are central to the plot, the film has no interest in politics, or history, instead The Missing uses the Western setting to dramatise a contemporary story about the strength of familial bonds.