Rating: 
Summary: Western adventure that falls just short
Review: Ron Howard's visually stunning "The Missing" had excellent potential to be a classic western but didn't quite make it. Filmed on location in New Mexico, the script didn't allow the players to display their acting talent.Cate Blanchett, one of the finest young actresses on the silver screen today, played Maggie Gilkeson, an 1885 New Mexican ranch owner. The mother of two daughters, her life gets upheaved when her estranged father, Tommy Lee Jones arrives on the scene. Jones, years ago, left his family to "go native" and take up residence with a tribe of Indians. Unwelcomed by Blanchett, they have a forced reconciliation when Blanchett's eldest daughter Lily is kidnapped by a band of renegade Apaches. The kidnappers are led by a frightful Eric Schweig, a witch doctor who orchestrates a trail of death to local homesteaders while snatching young women to be sold in Mexico. Jones, Blanchett and her youngest daughter Dot, played by the perky Jenna Boyd embark on a mission to rescue the abducted Lily through a panorama of magnificent scenery. The cinematography cannot mask the thinness of the dialogue and script. Blanchett, oratoically gifted, often times in relegated to brusque segments of conversation. Jones, somewhat miscast, at times appeared bored playing his role.
Rating: 
Summary: Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones and Eric Sweig at their best
Review: What is the fulcrum point of this story? it is the careful balance between three antagonistic roles and powerful performances. The first person to command your attention is Cate Blanchett playing the part of gutsy, pioneer woman raising two girls as best as she can. Her's is a stellar performance. The second person is Tommy Lee Jones, the enigmatic, white turned Apache father and grandfather. I can't think of anyone else that could have pulled off this part as well as Tommy Lee. These two roles are in constant conflict, reconciliation through most of the movie. What makes it all work is the over powering performance of Eric Schweig as a Brujo, someone that commands supernatural forces. Eric was once Uncas in "Last of the Mohigans," and looked the part of a bronze statue of a handsome young warrior. Under heavy make up, prosthetics and costuming, he looked like evil personified. I definitely want to see Eric in future movies bringing national attention to Native cultures. I also appreciate the fact that there were Apache elders serving as consultants and language experts for the film. The deleted scenes would have added a lot to the film, and I would recommend that the producers consider coming out with a "Director's Cut." This is powerful storytelling and powerful performances that highlight Apache Culture. After being raised as a white boy on Cowboy and Indian movies, I am ready for more than comic book stereotypes, with Native Americans always portrayed in negative parts. I have come to have a deep respect Native American cultures, and if Ron Howard wants to keep making westerns like this, I will be more than happy to keep buying tickets and DVD's.
Rating: 
Summary: Some suspenseful moments
Review: Cate Blanchett plays a woman living on the New Mexico frontier with her two daughters and and a couple of hired hands. Her elder daughter is kidnapped by a band of renegades who plan to sell her, along with other young women, when they reach Mexico. At this point Tommy Lee Jones shows up and it's revealed that he is Blanchett's long-lost father who deserted his family to live with the Indians. Blanchett still harbors resentment towards her father, but she has no choice but to have him guide her to the men who kidnapped her daughter. This film has its exciting moments, but there are lots of cliches which counterbalance them. The kidnapper brings some mysticism into the film and Tommy Lee Jones has a hard time acting as if he believes in it,as his role requires. The film's biggest drawback may be an identity crisis, trying to include action, emotion, and mysticism, without doing too well at any of the three. If you can forget all that, just try to enjoy it as an old-time Western.
Rating:
Summary: A good story but told with such slow pacing
Review: Maggie Gilkeson is a doctor living with her two daughters, Dot and Lily, in the plains of 1885 New Mexico. One morning, her two daughters set off with ranch hands Brake and Emiliano, promising to return by nightfall. As night approaches, Brake's horse returns to the ranch without a rider. Maggie sets off to find them and discovers her daughter Dot still alive in the midst of a massacre. Dot tells her that Lily's been taken by Indians. Determined to find Lily, Maggie strikes an alliance with her estranged father, Samuel Jones. With Dot in tow, the three set off to get Lily before she's taken across the border into Mexico. This is a very good story, almost an ode to the old Westerns. The acting really stands out in this film, especially Cate Blanchett as Maggie and Eric Schwieg as Chidin, the brouja who is kidnapping young women to take across the border to Mexico to sell. His performance is quiet astonishing and full of menace. The two daughters are also very good: Jenna Boyd as the young Dot and Evan Rachel Wood as Lily. Val Kilmer and Aaron Eckhart make appearances, too. Tommy Lee Jones is okay, if a little wooden. What I didn't like about this film is the slow pacing. The movie's over two hours in length, but feels like seven before you get through. I fast-forwarded through a lot of scenes that were simply filler and could have been cut without damaging the story. This is a chase; it should feel as if the story is moving along quickly. Also, the music didn't blend in or enhance the story. I was very aware of it and, for me, that's distracting. A good story with fine acting, but very slow pacing.
Rating:
Summary: Good solid western
Review: This will never be compared to a great western, say like "Unforgiven" or "Dances with Wolves", however, it does prove that western movies will probably always be with us and if well done, they are fun to watch.
This flick has plenty of action and adventure, I might complain that it got a bit slow in parts, and some of the relationships were too predictable, but all in all it was well worth watching and quite enjoyable.
I am a bit tired of the same character type played by Tommy Lee Jones, he does it well but it's becoming repetitious. I really enjoyed the performance of the girl that played the younger sister I thought she pulled off some difficult acting for someone her age.
There is a bit of blood and gore in this flick, and a fair amount of violence, which shouldn't be too surprising, but nothing too gratuitous.
I'd probably watch this one again, although I'm hesitant on whether it's one to own or not. I guess if you're really into westerns get it, if not, rent it.
Rating:
Summary: A violent, beautiful New Mexico western
Review: At 135 minutes it's not lean, but Ron Howard's "The Missing" is a surprisingly mean, violent addition to the Western genre. That it is beautifully shot and well-acted helps detract from the bloodiness, but the movie is not for the faint of heart. In what could be considered a long prologue, New Mexico frontierswoman Maggie (Cate Blanchett) raises cattle and her two young daughters - Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood) and Dot (Jenna Boyd) - while doing "healer" work on the side. One afternoon, near the onset of winter, her estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) rides in - he goes by no real name, but mentions "Jones" - looking to reconcile and give Maggie money, though he abandoned her when she was a girl to live with Apache Indians. Maggie refuses, and has her "man" of sorts, ranchhand Brake(Aaron Eckhart), escort Jones off the ranch. A day later Brake is brutally killed, and Lilly is kidnapped, by a group of Apaches looking to sell white women into prostitution south of the border. Not surprisingly, Jones offers his help to track the Indians he knows so well, and Maggie, with Dot in tow, accepts. The journey is not, shall we say, a short one. Howard takes "The Missing" on two or three "color" detours in an effort to recreate the era. One involves a corrupt cavalry (headed by a slightly bewildered Val Kilmer); in another, a kidnapped photographer meets a bizarre, fearsome end at the hands of an Apache witch doctor (Eric Schweig). Named Chidin in the credits - I don't recall the name in the movie - the witch doctor is in effect a supervillain of near-indestructible proportions, and the architect of some pretty lurid slayings. He also puts a curse on Maggie from afar with a lock of her hair. But whenever the movie threatens to venture too far off the path, Jones and Blanchett answer with tough, wry performances; both actors have made a career out gritty, melodramatic roles, especially Jones, and each seems to appreciate the other's company, even if the screenplay has them at odds. Casting kids is always a crapshoot, but Wood and Boyd are pretty good as Maggie's starkly contrasted daughters. Schweig is a menacing hulk. Howard has a knack for storytelling, and more importantly, character - as an actor's director, he's usually able to deliver intimacy amidst epic backdrops. Though the editing in "The Missing" is a little shoddy - too many shifting perspectives on horse rides, too many jarring cuts from the Apaches back to Maggie - Howard nails the big scenes, and gets the ending just about right, even if takes a leap of faith to buy three beating fifteen, plus a supervillain. And like most Howard movies that get top production dollar, "The Missing" is great to look at, as it features every panoramic shot of New Mexico there is to capture, from the foothills through the pine trees to the white sands.
Rating:
Summary: An overall good movie
Review: I wasn't really sure of what to expect when I first started watching "The Missing" but I'm glad I rented it as it's not really worth buying. While good, this is one of those films that you only need to watch once. Tommy Lee Jones is always an interesting actor to behold onscreen and Cate Blanchett is one of my favorite actresses. I trust in her judgment of picking excellent roles and this is no exception. She does a convincing job at playing Maggie: a Christian "healer" who aids the ill in the wilderness of rural New Mexico. She lives a humble life until all is shattered when the man she loves and her two daughters fail to return from a cattle drive. Maggie goes looking for them and finds Brake dead and a frightened Dot (the youngest) who comes out of her hiding place, crying about someone having taken Lily. The movie is pretty much based upon finding her. Savage Indians who are kidnapping innocent young girls to sell at the market abducted her and since the police or the army aren't willing to do much, the mother is determined to find Lily herself so she reluctantly agrees to let her estranged father, who's suddenly returned after so many years of wrongful doings, help in her quest. She is forced to put aside all the disdainful feelings directed towards the hurt he's caused her in the past for she knows she needs his assistance in order to return Lily home, and alive. The storyline is a little weak and tends to be predictable at times but the performances were all well done and I especially enjoyed Dot, who truly stole the spotlight, insisting that she doesn't get left behind and that she goes with them to find her sister. The villain is an evil witch (or brujo) who possesses many demonic powers but I'm a little baffled as to why the previews and plot descriptions lead you to believe that he's a shape-shifter? Nowhere in this movie does he take another form. He is, however, scum of the earth and you can't hold back from wanting him to pay for all the wicked, cowardly things he's done. "The Missing" has its flaws and it probably could have been a much more suspenseful thriller but it has many great moments and the cinematography and music by composer James Horner are absolutely gorgeous.
Rating:
Summary: Now, I've never been a real big fan of Ron Howard . . .
Review: He seems like a real nice guy and though I've liked some of his films, I don't think many, if any, of his prior films hold up very well under repeated viewings -- though I don't think I've watched any of his films more than a couple of times. Yet I liked "The Missing". I think it is much better than the mediocre reviews given it. It's clearly an old fashioned western, old fashioned in that the main theme is not about "violence" (like most modern westerns, few though they may be) but about "family". It has violence, plenty of violence, but like the older Westerns which had major themes like "honor", "courage", "devotion", "redemption" and "family", to name a few, violence is a method, not the message. "The Missing" also has a lot of formal qualities that I find interesting. Like a few other movies ("Boogie Nights" is one example that immediately comes to mind) it attempts to tell the story visually -- not as successfully as, say, "Citizen Kane" nor movies from the silent era, but much more than most movies do today (remember the last time you saw a movie on an airplane without purchasing the earphones and recognize how incomprehensible and dull the film actually was without the sound to hold it up). One way the story is told in "The Missing" is by the way characters fill the screen and don't fill the screen: like a placement of the protagonist in the frame toward the end of the film reveals his vulnerability while he is revealing truths about himself to his daughter; several places the antagonist is placed in the frame in a way to show his desire to be invisible, to blend into his surroundings. The dramatic lighting in dark interiors, the editing (a lot of montages with strings of shots with similar compositions, shapes replacing similar shapes), you can tell Ron Howard had more than a passing interest in John Ford westerns. I might have to re-watch other Ron Howard films, paying more attention this time.
Rating:
Summary: The tag-along kid nearly steals the show
Review: A creepy New Age Western (directed by Ron Howard, who just gets better and better) with the inimitable Cate Blanchett who, for this role, had to learn how to talk with 'American West' accents. She's a mom with 2 kids, living on the prairie and occasionally sharing her bed with a good man who works on her place. Then along comes the equally inimitable Tommy Lee Jones as her long lost, no good daddy who abandoned her and her mother in childhood. She lets him spend the night, then more or less runs him off the place in the morning.
Good Hired Man leaves for town with Cate's eldest daughter - and never returns. Then one of the horses comes back - with no one in the saddle. Cate takes off with younger daughter (supremely inimitable Jenna Boyd) on her own horse - and finds a horror scene and clear knowledge that her daughter has been kidnapped by a brujo (witch) for sale as a prostitute in Mexico.
She needs help. The sheriff and other lawmen are useless. Then, literally, Along Came Jones - and the three of them, daddy, Cate, and the wonderful feisty kid, take off in pursuit. From this point on, creepiness vies with mayhem, pathos with terror, witch magic with fire fights. It's a humdinger. Watch it and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Missing A Tooth
Review: Did you ever, say, bring home a double quarter-pounder (which looks so good in its package) and unwrap the thing, only to find out the burger sat under the heat lamp too long? Man, that's a bummer, and so is THE MISSING, which sure has a good-looking package, but when you get to the actual contents you can't help but feel disappointed. With director Ron Howard and the acting talents of Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett, this movie certainly has enough star power. Set in the New Mexico wilderness of the 19th Century, Blanchett, a widow, must rely on her estranged father (Jones) to help her rescue her older daughter from what can only be described as Lucifer's Lunatics. Led by a frightening Eric Schweig, I kept waiting for this band of Apache renegades to start singing "Helter Skelter" at any moment. This bunch always seemed to be on the lookout for more ways to maim, torture, or kill--and indeed, they were very creative. Okay, so we've set the stage: the package looks good. But when you unwrap it this movie has as much flavor as a piece of cardboard. Jones and Blanchett are so detached and aloof--in their roles and with each other--that it's impossible for the viewer to care what happens. And the bad guys are so bad it requires a titanic leap of witch doctor faith to believe what is happening before your eyes. Throw in the fact the movie is at least a half-hour too long (in other words, it drags), and THE MISSING, although it looks good, is missing the true flavor of solid entertainment. I think I'll take my quarter-pounder back.
--D. Mikels
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