Rating: 
Summary: Coyotes
Review: Cate Blanchett proves once again in "Missing" that she can do extraordinary things in ordinary movies (Veronica Guerin, for example). Here she plays Maggie a frontier woman torn between her devotion to Christianity and her need to depend on the natural American Indian ways and instincts of her father Sam, who has returned to her life after abandoning her and her mother 30 years before, and who she now needs to help her find her daughter Lilly, who has been kidnapped by a renegade gang of Indians.
Director Ron Howard's mise-en-scene is cluttered with all the cliché's of most Western movies: a chase, renegade Indians, sagebrush, and panoramic vistas. Yet, after all is said and done it doesn't add up to much; just the enduringly charismatic performance of Blanchett, who has proven once again that she can turn a sows ear into a silk purse.
Rating: 
Summary: Western, Horror, Drama thrown into a Great Movie
Review: This is not your average movie...it takes place over 100 years ago and mixes adventure with horror and does it beautifully!Tommy Lee Jones plays the part of a father who left his daughter when she was yougn and she has never forgiven him and never seen him until she shows up at his door seeking medical help ( It appears the daughter has become a sort of town doctor....but not really because she lives in the middle of no where with her husband and 2 daughters. ) Any-who...Her father shows up and leaves when she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with her. The next day, her husband and daughters leave and say they will return by the next morning and so they leave and we get to the horror and the next scene sent chills up my spine as I sat in the theaters. One of the horses the family had used to go to the place comes running across the field in front of the mother as she wakes up to a foggy morning and she sets out to find them and ends up stumbling upon a 2 bodies grisily killed and one was in a cows skin being cooked and she finds 1 of her daughters and she goes back to her house to search for her husband and other daughter and her father is there saying he can help and she lets him. So the family of 3 set off to find there daughter who we find out later has been taken by apachies to sell to white men and the 3 of them follow the apachies to Mexico and try to save the women.... I would have never seen this movie if I had not gotton it mixed up with another movie. I was expacting to see a new age horror ( I had mixed up trailers ) and went into this with a completely different story line but I am so glad I did that. This movie is a great movie and shares its scares but mostly focusing on action which I have no complaint with. This is an amazing movie. It was well written, scored, very well acted, it was just all the way around a good thriller that almost anyone could enjoy.....To me it's almost like WATERWORLD on land.....
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie!!!
Review: What can I say, but-great! I loved this movie, not just for the superb cast, but for the content and the beautiful New Mexico scenery. The action kept you guessing and biting your nails. Tommy Lee Jones was excellent, as always, and Cate Blanchett was marvelous as the determined mother who would not relent until she rescued her daughter from a psychopathic killer with mystical powers. Would recommend this one to all!!
Rating:
Summary: Brutal and powerful.
Review: Ron Howard's contribution to this year's holiday crop of films is a piece about the hardship of life in the old west. Well-chosen was Cate Blanchett, as Maggie, the frontier woman whose hard life has culminated in a ranch in isolated New Mexico, with her two daughters and a rancher (Aaron Eckhart) who is not her husband, but her lover. Blanchett makes you believe in every character's soul that she has ever occupied. Her spare, lean grace and strength shine through in Maggie's unwillingness to give up on the daughter she has lost to a brutal gang of kidnappers. These men, former Indian scouts of the military, are scouring the desert, kidnapping young women from white settlements and Indian camps. They are to be sold into a life not worth living as the gang approaches willing buyers on the Mexican border. (I'm not sure what movie the reviewer from Hawaii saw, but the character and methods of this brutal gang are mixed cruelty from their mixed background of white soldiering and Indian customs - and certainly not Navaho). The scene in which Maggie's finds that daughter Lilly is missing, that both ranchhands are brutally slain, and that her younger daughter Dot (Jenna Boyd, in a wonderful performance) has been traumatized beyond all reason, centers the movie in Maggie's desperation to find Lilly, and recapture what she can of her former life. After many years, her father Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones) has returned, unwelcome, after life among the Indians. He deserted Maggie and her mother when she was a child, and there is no place in Maggie's life for her bitterness at seeing him again. Yet, she holds out hope that he can help locate Lilly, and help he does, using his knowledge of the land and the nature of the men who hold her captive. Chief among the villains is the Brujo, or witch, who leads the kidnappers. He is physically frightening, his face scarred, and his skills with the black arts and knowledge of psychotropic drugs from plants and the venom of snakes, drives the melancholy and brutal journey that Maggie's daughter endures. There is one scene where he is casting a spell on Maggie through the use of her hair left behind in a brush at their campground - this scene appears a bit overplayed, although it does contribute to the danger that emanates from the Brujo's powers, and gives us the reason why the men who follow him so obviously do so from fear, and not just for the money. Howard gives us the boundless beauty and fierceness of the New Mexico landscape, (the scene in which the canyons flood is truly frightening) and the customs and humor of the Chiricauha Indians, whom Samuel has lived among. Howard's ability to weave the central subplot of conflict, (distrust and longing between Maggie and her father) into the thriller, demonstrates what a deft hand he has in compelling a film to go in the direction he wishes. The music soars, but never gets in the way, the camera angles are stark and telling, but most of all, Howard drives the piece with his characters. Tommy Lee Jones is a bit of a disappointment; his Samuel is somewhat removed emotionally from both the battle and the reconciliation between he and his daughter. The villains are truly brutal, and the violence is graphic, but well-staged. Evan Rachel Wood, a young TV actress who appears to be poised to make her mark in films, is engaging and changing day by day as the captive Lilly. This film is a solid win for Howard, who did his best work in Apollo 13 (and therefore won his Oscar for "A Beautiful Mind"..that's Hollywood!) I would love to see him take more chances with his filmwork, and here he relies too much on his writers (sidekick Brian Grazer from A Beautiful Mind) , who made the chase scenes and the hairbrush chanting scenes overlong. He invokes his ability to draw excellent actors for merely cameo roles (Eckhart, a favorite of mine and Director Neil Labute, as well as Val Kilmer as a military officer - his plotline probably was to rejoin the hunt for Lilly in the original script, but he's given precious few moments in the final). Oh, and the necessary Howard signature spin, the cameo for brother Clint Howard, as the sheriff of a small town....it was in there, too! Definitely a recommended film, in the theater or on video.
Rating:
Summary: Wow..
Review: I loved this movie. I would have liked to see the unedited version. There were small things that weren't explained. But over the whole, the movie was awesome. I hope 'ole Howard puts out a directors cut.. MUST SEE! The acting was incredible!
Rating:
Summary: Nothing's "Missing" Here!
Review: In "The Missing", art really does imitate life, as solid writing, combined with director Ron Howard's methodic, upstanding work behind the camera are apt to prove. As for the film's content and storyline, one can truly tell Ron Howard is a master of study, who really did his homework on the Native American and his struggle of hardship and war. Sides are formed, as two tribes go to war. As hostages are taken by the Navajo tribe, an honorable Apache (Tommy Lee Jones) sees to it to capture his tribesmen, and that no casualties are lost. A local villager (Cate Blanchett) takes to him immediately, and somehow copes with all that befalls her. Battle lines are then drawn, as further lives are jeopardized in the process. As director, Ron Howard should be given utmost credit in helping establish said battle lines, letting the viewing audience draw them inside this dangerous zone. Also, Mr. Howard should be given extraordinary kudos, as for his various use of pan camera angles thoughout the picture, creating dramatic turns at various points in the story. As one could tell, Mr. Howard did not want to waste the audience's time by dealing with minor issues, such as tribal customs and culture of the Navajo and Apache tribes (ex: clothing styles, such as moccasins, vests, feathers, etc., culinary "cuisine", Native American artwork, and other items). All of the above would have just dragged the picture along, creating a plodding effect. Instead, focusing on the trials and tribulations of family and war added key elements to "The Missing"'s storyline - to which nothing's missing at all. The only minor problem with the story, is the use of weaponry during the battle scenes. I'm quite sure that in 1855, rifles were in use, and not handguns (such as magnums or colt 45's). An interesting point: Weren't tomahawks in use at that time? It is because of these minor qualms why "The Missing" gets a 4 1/2 star rating instead of 5. Also, where are the cowboys? You can't have Indians without cowboys, especially in a Western-oriented motion picure such as this. So instead, we are saddled with ordinary, plain-clothesed "frontiersmen". Regardless, in spite of such minor flaws, I hope Ron Howard decides to direct another Western in the future, simply because he captured the realism of the Native American spirit so perfectly. In conclusion, you don't want to be one of "The Missing", but instead one of "The Present & Accounted For" at your local theater today! This title has "Best Picture of 2003" honors written all over it, which means you'll want to own a copy on video in the not-too-distant future as well.
Rating:
Summary: A fine addition to the Western genre
Review: Brutal, horrific, beautifully photographed, well-written, supremely acted by an expert cast and smartly directed by Ron Howard- producing one of his strongest films- THE MISSING deftly melds the genres of both the western and the horror film. In THE MISSING, an estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones-looking and sounding like Mt. Rushmore come to life) and his faith healing daughter (Cate Blanchett- balancing ethereal spookiness with tough intelligence) battle an evil Shaman in hopes of freeing a captive girl (Blanchett's teenage daughter). Stunning New Mexican topography serves as a glorious backdrop for a battle between good and evil on a cosmic level. In the balance lies not only a family's survival, but the redemption of character's very souls. Ron Howard avoids his usual penchant for maudlin and overly-sentimental pseudo-Spielbergian posturing and produces a film that is surprisingly subtle, complex if a little slow moving in spurts. As a director, Howard makes the smartest choice and makes his cast of fascinating faces become part of the magnificent scenery. With THE MISSING, he avoids imitating Ford, Hawks, Mann and even Peckinpah (a trap that claims Costner) and bravely journeys into the darker literary areas of McMurtry, Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy. Special mention must be made of the excellent character portrayed by Cate Blanchett. Her Magdelena is maternal, sexual, violent, tough, flawed, intuitive and fiercely independent. Her chacacter is a brilliant combination of the Warrior/Madonna/Mother Earth figure that the Western has so desperately demanded as a relatively new archetype. One of the Western's greatest appeals lies in its suggestion that beautiful country makes for a harsh and often violent life. THE MISSING confronts this paradox head-on with an honest eye. Lives are lost, spirits are found and blood is shed in this unsentimental (the good ole' days never existed!) film which suggests Grace may not always be free. Along with this year's OPEN RANGE, THE MISSING stands as a proud addition to the wondrous resurrection of America's finest film genre - The Western.
Rating:
Summary: Women of Years Ago
Review: Potrayal of women in olden days was great. hardships that were faced etc. Scenry of the country was beautiful. Needed more suspense. would not go to see a second time.
Rating:
Summary: The trailers do not do it justice
Review: If you're looking for a carbon copy of Thomas Eidson's novel "The Last Ride," which the movie is based on, you won't find it here. In no way does this mean that the film is unsatisfactory.
"The Missing" is a wonderfully authentic movie. From the acting to the scenery to the costumes, everything is believable.
All of the actors are incredible, particularly Cate Blanchett and Jenna Boyd.
This is a movie for people who enjoy adventure and suspense. There is a great deal of violence, but it is achieved tastefully. The language is barely noticeable. I almost feel like it should have been rated PG-13.
In short, "The Missing" is a joy to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Western thriller with some twists.
Review: I was expecting more of a mystical storyline but The Missing is more a western thriller with some mysticism thrown in. Cate Blanchett is fabulous as Maggie, the hard-working, strong-willed rancher/healer whose oldest daughter (Lily) is taken by renegade Apaches. The Apaches are a brutal bunch led by a brujo - male witch - who are stealing girls to sell in Mexico. Maggie sets out to find Lily accompanied by her estranged father, Samuel Jones (played wonderfully by Tommy Lee Jones) and her youngest daughter. There is drama, humor and adventure in this movie. There is also personal growth and healing of old wounds. Ron Howard once again proves his talents as a director.
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