Cate Blanchett has been surviving just fine on her own, but when some indians kill her boyfriend and kidnap her eldest daughter (she has one other, who's quite good), she is forced to ask her strange and estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) for help.
Ron Howard finally made that western he's been dreaming of since he was a kiddie putting together home movies of men on horses riding into town (which you can find on The Missing DVD) - and i hope it surpasses his wildest dreams.
Its widescreen wild-west vistas make this one of the most beautiful films to come out of Hollywood in years. Cinematography is superb, to say the least.
And its suspense is perfect. I wasn't bored one minute - it is regulated by violent outbursts from the indians at unexpected intervals. As soon as we're about to wonder why we were so scared of the indians, we are reassured why.
Virtually constant camera movement and hand-held work take us into the world of The Missing, and make it really come alive. Ron Howard really knows what he's doing.
10/10. A beautiful, suspenseful, outstanding film.
Parent's Warning: its quite violent. Many graphic deaths, many more where the violence is strongly suggested. Make sure your audience is over, say, 16.
