• Missing movie review: Five years later, this sequel to the hit and innovative mystery Searching arrives.
• Aneesh Chaganty made his directorial debut with Searching in 2018.
• The first film was told from the perspective of someone who was unfamiliar with technology.

Missing movie review: Five years later, this sequel to the hit and innovative mystery Searching arrives and may be a little stale.

Aneesh Chaganty made his directorial debut with Searching in 2018, starring John Cho as a father searching for his missing daughter. The entire film was told from his point of view as he followed her trail using phones and a computer. Chaganty and producer Sev Ohanian are behind this’spiritual’ sequel, which flips Missing’s narrative.

This time, 18-year-old June (Storm Reid) is searching for her mother, Grace Allen (Nia Long), after she fails to return home from a trip abroad with her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung). The first film was told from the perspective of someone who was unfamiliar with technology, whereas Missing is about someone who is “chronically online,” so to speak. June never leaves her side.

When she and Kevin fail to return home on time, June becomes concerned and gradually realises that something is seriously wrong. Missing, written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, follows June as she becomes a detective, tracking down Kevin and Grace’s digital footprints to discover where they may have gone. The astute adolescent, played convincingly by Reid, employs every trick in her arsenal, as well as the powers of a good Google search, to crack their passwords and retrace their steps from the time they left home. Instead of a physical board with evidence pinned to it, June’s laptop screen is where she learns everything she can about the case.

Merrick and Johnson, who also edited Searching, pack a lot of information and screens into the first 30 or so minutes. We see FaceTime conversations, camera footage from the Allen home, and every other way a human can exist online. It’s exhausting and overwhelming. But, like June, the story gradually unravels with each twist and turn. And, as with any mystery, everyone is always hiding something.

June is helped by her best friend Veena (Megan Suri) and Heather, a friend of her mother’s (Amy Landecker). She also enlists the assistance of a local man named Javi (Joaquim de Almeida) in Bogota, who serves as her eyes and ears on the ground in the foreign country. The police and the US embassy in Columbia appear to be on a completely different track, as June is the one who discovers the most shocking twists in the story. Missing also tells the story of a strained relationship between a mother and her daughter following her father’s death. June begins to regret her earlier actions because they aren’t as close as she would like.

While the story unfolding entirely on digital screens is no longer as innovative as it was in 2018, Missing demonstrates how much more surreal it is to be thrust into the national, and later international, spotlight as a person of interest online. The search for Grace Allen consumes every aspect of her being, from TikTok sleuths to Twitter hashtags, as well as the intrusive media coverage. There’s a subtle jab at the public’s morbid fascination with true crime stories, especially when they’re adapted and fictionalized for television.

Missing also serves as a cautionary tale for many, given how simple it is for anyone to hack into your online accounts, particularly if they know some basic and relevant details about your life. June easily hacks into Kevin’s Gmail account and begins her investigation by digging into his past. The film also includes some paid promotion for the apps and products that the characters use. This technology is indeed life-saving in two to three cases.

Despite the gimmick of digital screens, Missing’s big twisty reveal is far too predictable. The audience, like June, who spends far too much time online, has seen every plot twist before. The cliched tropes of the petulant teenager, the shady boyfriend, and the mother with a secret in her past are all present. Despite this, Missing manages to keep your attention with its quick pace and the constant reminder of the vulnerable human behind the online persona.

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