The Western once such a popular genre for movies has declined in popularity since it's heyday in the 50's, it briefly was reinvented in the sixties as the Spaghetti Western and although it maintained a presence in the mainstream in the 70's it was effectively killed off by the sci-fi movies ... Read review
From Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the Oscar-winning Director and Producer team of 'A ... more
Beautiful Mind' comes THE MISSING. A chilling suspense thriller and a powerful drama of love, forgiveness and redemption starring Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones ...
The woman was missing for five years. The Crime Scene Investigator finds her. And the ... more
serial killer wants them both dead... When Boston CSI Darby McCormick finds a raving and emaciated woman hiding at the scene of a violent kidnap she runs a DNA search to identify the Jane Doe. The result confirms she was abducted five years earlier and has somehow managed to escape from the dungeon in which she's been caged. With a teenage couple also missing and Jane Doe seriously ill the clock is ticking for Darby as she hunts for the dungeon before anyone else disappears or dies. And when the FBI takes over the investigation it becomes clear that a sadistic serial killer has been on the prowl for decades - and is poised to strike again at any moment - a killer with links to horrors that Darby has desperately tried to bury in her past ...
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A Californian wife has left her academic husband. As she drives through the mountains in ... more
the early hours of the morning she picks up a hitch-hiker - rugged adventurous - who suggests a romantic stop. But no love takes place at The Bend that night and in the morning a body is found.
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1997 - Drama - Director: Gillian Armstrong - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Richard Roxburgh
Advantages: Good Acting Disadvantages: Unoriginal story
The Western once such a popular genre for movies has declined in popularity since it's heyday in the 50's, it briefly was reinvented in the sixties as the Spaghetti Western and although it maintained a presence in the mainstream in the 70's it was effectively killed off by the sci-fi movies from Star Wars and beyond. This means that when we get a western made these days it is a rarity. There have been a few fine examples in recent years (The Unforgiven, ... ...
'The Missing' on the surface looks very much in the traditional mould of a classic western even its storyline has echoes of the John Ford's classic 'The Searchers', although some elements do also seem to embrace more recent themes of realism and the supernatural.
THE PLOT
Maggie is a healer trying to make a living for herself and her young family on an isolated farm in 19th century New Mexico. Her father who ... more
The Western once such a popular genre for movies has declined in popularity since it's heyday in the 50's, it briefly was reinvented in the sixties as the Spaghetti Western and although it maintained a presence in the mainstream in the 70's it was effectively killed off by the sci-fi movies from Star Wars and beyond. This means that when we get a western made these days it is a rarity. There have been a few fine examples in recent years (The Unforgiven, The Quick and the Dead) and there just might be a slight resurgence.
'The Missing' on the surface looks very much in the traditional mould of a classic western even its storyline has echoes of the John Ford's classic 'The Searchers', although some elements do also seem to embrace more recent themes of realism and the supernatural.
THE PLOT
Maggie is a healer trying to make a living for herself and her young family on an isolated farm in 19th century New Mexico. Her father who she hasn't seen in years since he abandoned the family in order to live with the apache has come back to try and reconcile his relationship with Maggie. After an Indian attack Maggie eldest daughter is kidnapped in order to be sold in to slavery an event which forces Maggie to put aside her distrust of her father so they can together hope to rescue the girl.
CAST, PERFORMANCES AND OPINION
Tommy Lee Jones .... Samuel Jones Cate Blanchett .... Maggie Gilkeson Evan Rachel Wood .... Lilly Gilkeson Jenna Boyd .... Dot Gilkeson Aaron Eckhart .... Brake Baldwin Val Kilmer .... Lt. Jim Ducharme Sergio Calderón .... Emiliano Eric Schweig .... Pesh-Chidin (El Brujo) Steve Reevis .... Two Stone Jay Tavare .... Kayitah
Directed by Ron Howard, written by Thomas Eidson-original novel The Last Ride adapted for the screen by Ken Kaufman.
The film boasts a good cast that can usually be relied upon to at the very least keep one's interest in most films however bad the story might be. In this case the film is not so bad that it requires to be saved by acting performances alone. Having said this it isn't all that original either. The young girl kidnapped by evil Indians scenario is one that has been used many times in westerns most successfully in the classic 'The Searchers' starring John Wayne. However although the storyline might imply otherwise the missing owes more to the grimmer realist westerns of recent years than to the classics of the 40's and 50's.
The characters in this film are universally downtrodden and it gives a grim picture of the frontier west full of people just about surviving against great odds of unfriendly climate, hostile natives and dysfunctional relationships, which is probably close to the truth.
Maggie is the strongest and pivotal character in the film. She is struggling to bring up the family and has experienced a lot of tragedies in her life. She has become cynical about life to the extent that she find it difficult to accept any kind of warmth in a relationship even from her lover Blake. Blanchett is good in the role she manages to look downtrodden enough whilst radiating defiance and strength. It is nice to see a genuinely strong female character in such a male dominated genre that isn't a gimmicky female gunslinger but an ordinary woman struggling to survive in a very harsh environment.
Tommy Lee Jones plays her father who returns to her after having abandoned Maggie and her mother in order to go native and join a tribe of Indians something, which Maggie will not forgive. He now acts and looks like an Apache and is not trusted. Tommy Lee Jones gives a good performance making this rather odd character believable in that world-weary way that he seems to have adopted in his more recent films.
The focus of the film is on the relationship between Maggie and her father and few others get a look in. There is strange cameo role for Val Kilmer as a army captain that little to convince me even after all these years of moderate box office success that Kilmer can actually act, but no matter he isn't on the screen all that much.
Eric Schweig as the psychotic Indian Shaman El Brujo provides the only other performance of note. He is pure evil with bad teeth to match! He doesn't speak a word of English throughout the film but his incomprehensible utterances are delivered so venomously and his actions are so sadistic that you are left in no doubt as to the blackness of his soul.
The film is just as much a psychological thriller as it is an action move and provided quite a few very tense moments as well as some well choreographed action sequences. The raw New Mexican landscape is well presented, and manages to add to the bleakness of the story, this film doesn't have many laughs!
A supernatural element to the story is a further aspect of the film distinguishes it from a traditional western. Although the portrayal of the events is mostly realistic at certain points the characters have magical/spiritual experiences, which I think work well in the overall context of the story and certainly makes the El Brujo character even more menacing.
Overall this is not a bad film and one that should be to the liking of those that are fans of the genre. Ron Howard, not one of my favourite directors, resists his usual inclinations to turn the story into sugary, sickly, sentimental pap and instead manages to keep the relationship between Maggie and her father tense and awkward throughout the film, even the ending doesn't provide the emotional release that we have come to expect from this director.
Although 'The Missing' will not go down in movie history as a great movie or even a great western it's enjoyable and dramatic enough to watch whilst not remaining in your memory for too long after.
'The Missing' is available on DVD from Play.com for £8.99 delivered.
Advantages: Superb plot, spectacular performances, a mixture of genres. Disadvantages: The first 45 minutes are a bit slow and hard to get into.
...Whilst only having £1 and the desire to watch a film, at my local DVD rental store I had to go for something that wasn't a 'Top Title.' This caused me to have to rummage the shelves for something half-decent. I came across 'The Missing' the title suggested to me that it might fit the genre I was looking for and so I embarked to read its description on the blurb. It was here that I decided to give it ago, also seeing the notable star cast. I had briefly ... ...pleasantly surprised that the film was different to my expectations.
Brief Overview
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This film is set in the 19th century (1800s). The beginning starts with a family of a woman and her two daughters who live in New Mexico. Maggie Gilkeson is the mother who is also a 'healer' this is someone we would know today as a doctor. She leads a relatively humble life and tries to do the best for her children. However, due to her ...
anya_lahiri 27.03.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Missing (DVD)
Advantages: Cate Blanchett is excellent, exciting plot Disadvantages: Slow in places
...providing basic medical care for the local people and tending to a small collection of live stock. Along with her two daughters and friend Brake, she lives a simple life but is relatively content with her lot. Whilst Brake is out patrolling the livestock one day, he spots a strange figure coming through the trees on horseback and as he gets closer, he realises that it is an old man. The man advises that he is looking for the healer but as he is unable ... ...the old man sleep in the outbuildings. Later that evening, the old man arrives in the Gilkesons’ log cabin uninvited, and it is clear from Maggie’s reaction that he is already familiar to her. The man is in fact her estranged father, who has travelled to see her to apologise for his years of absence and to try to make amends. Maggie is, however, unable to forgive and the following day, having tended his injuries, she sends him away for ...
LostWitness 22.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Missing (DVD)
Advantages: Brilliantly acted and spellbinding. Disadvantages: A little too much of the 'supernatural' for a western.
THE MISSING
I had a recommendation to watch this movie by a friend who told me that it was an update of John Wayne's, classic western The Searchers (That'll Be The Day!). I appreciated the tip but I think that she was wrong in her assumption. If The Missing is based on anything that I've seen before, it might be likened to 'Ulzana's Raid'… Burt Lancaster tracking down the murderous Apache band bent on theft and torture have a similar 'feeling' to ... ...western.
Forget the noble Native American. The Apaches in both these films believe that the Gods will give them great 'power' the more that they make their victims suffer before they expire. Roasting alive is seemingly a favourite method of achieving this force.
WHAT'S THE STORY, THEN?
Set in New Mexico in the late nineteenth century it tells the tale of a rugged farmer, Maggie Gilkeson, who ekes out her meagre harvest by using her gift as a 'healer'. ...
alfeebee 06.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Missing (DVD)
Advantages: Fabulous Acting, Gripping at Times Disadvantages: Little Predictable, Typical Storyline
The Missing is your classic late 1800’s film, situated in New Mexico out on the prairies it tells the story of a young woman battling against a group of ferocious and sadistic Indians to recapture her eldest daughter. The Plot
A long lost father Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) returns to try to reconcile the past with his daughter Maggie (Cate Blanchett) and her family. Unfortunately due to an uneasy past whereby Samuel left Maggie’s mother, brother ... ...and Dot – off to the festival in the nearby town. When they don’t return before nightfall Maggie quite predictably in the world of film, assumes the worst and sets off to find them. She discovers her boyfriend murdered, her elder daughter snatched by a vicious Indian group and only her youngest daughter remaining to tell her of the terrible events of the night. Begruddingly Maggie agrees to let her father lead her to her eldest daughter and the other ...
s_jones_2003 08.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Missing (DVD)
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Based on the novel by Thomas Eidson this drama centres on life in 19th Century New Mexico. Samuel Jones walked out on his family many years before when his daughter was just a child. He decides to return home and make up with his now grown-up daughter Maggie. What he finds on his return is that Maggie's eldest daughter Lily has been kidnapped by a group of outlaws. Maggie must now enlist the help of her estranged father in a rescue attempt. Lily's existence is now threatened by a life of enslaved prostitution in Mexico City.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Two Alternate Endings, Five Deleted Scenes, Five Ron Howard Featurettes, Outtake Reel, Three Short Films, Photo Gallery
Aspect Ratio
2.40 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Czech English Hungarian
DVD Description
Director Ron Howard, who impressed audiences with BACKDRAFT (1991) and A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001), has outdone himself with THE MISSING, a wrenching family drama that unfolds in the midst of a classic 1880s Western. This extraordinarily beautiful film offers astounding panoramic photography and inspired performances that enrich a truly hair-raising journey. As ever, Cate Blanchett brings intense realism to the role of Maggie Gilkeson, a New Mexico cattle rancher who dabbles in the healing arts. Her long-estranged father Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) is mistaken for an Indian when he inexplicably shows up on her property hoping for reconciliation; he abandoned his family years earlier to adopt a Native American identity. An embittered Maggie sends him away, but capitulates when her eldest daughter Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by a band of psychotic Apache killers. When the local sheriff and the U.S. Army balk at chasing the perpetrators, a desperate Maggie turns to her father, praying he is sufficiently savvy in tribal ways to save her daughter. Blanchett and Jones clearly own this movie, and are both superb. Wunderkind child actor Jenna Boyd is spectacular as Maggie's youngest daughter, Dot. Also noteworthy are a brief but poignant cameo by Val Kilmer as an apathetic Army general and a skin-crawling appearance by Eric Schweig as Chidin, the outlaw leader.
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