Details
Movie 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.
Film Notes
Theatrical Release: NOVEMBER 19, 2003
Industry Reviews
"...The combined intensity of these two performances obliterates objections and raises the stakes....It's powerful enough to create its own reality..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (11/26/2003)
"...Blanchett always works modestly, with an economy of display that veils her hard technical work..."
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (11/28/2003)
"...THE MISSING is not to be missed..."
Us Weekly - Ted Adams (12/15/2003)
"[T]his gorgeously shot movie will remind a lot of people of John Ford's masterpiece, THE SEARCHERS."
USA Today - Mike Clark (12/05/2003)
"[T]he dusty period tone feels right, Salvatore Totino's stark cinematography parching the landscape with craggy menace."
Total Film - Jonathan Crocker (04/01/2004)
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