Desapariciones

I'm typically not a fan of Westerns - being female may have something to do with it. But I liked this one. It has a good story, along with superb character development that causes you to care what's going on in the film.

The most stand out aspect for me was the villain played by Eric Schweig. He totally creeped me out. I looked up his IMDb photos and he looks nothing like he did in the film - so the makeup department had a lot to do with making his face as ugly as they did. It really adds to the evil nature of this man.

Jones is quite convincing as a white man wanting to be Indian. His face looks so aged and weathered - you believe he has lived out in the harsh western wilderness all his life. I'm a big fan of his and could watch him do his thing all day.

The director and writers did a good job of creating tension and suspense in the film. There are numerous fight and chase scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. There is quite a bit of explicit violence so this isn't one for young kids to watch.

I think the movie weaves a good tale of hardship, tragedy, failings, forgiveness and redemption. The title, I think, refers to not only her daughter that is missing - I think it refers to several themes missing in the life of Cate Blanchett's character. First, there is the missing dad that abandoned her. There's the missing trust of men in general since she apparently was the victim of rape - and that subsequently resulted in the birth of her daughter. There are also the fathers of her daughter's who are no where to be seen - so that her daughters are having to grow up without a dad as well. No husband either (just a live-in boyfriend). She is totally alone and has to fend for herself and her girls. Blanchett does a great job of bringing the steeliness of her character to life.

Without giving away what happens, I found the ending very touching.

The premise of this film that the main character (played by Cate Blanchett) is a rancher and doctor living in the wilds of New Mexico. Her daughter is kidnapped by a group of outlaws led by a psychopathic witch doctor. At the same time, her estanged father (played by Tommy Lee Jones) enters her life, and she is faced with her deep hatred of him, weighed against her need for his help. The rest of the story I won't give away.

I've read whisperings of Oscar nominations, which may be a fair statement, but although these rumors have been directed towards Blanchett, I would say that Jones had the stronger performance. Blanchett was excellent as well though, depicting a hard-laboring no-nonsense rancher perfectly, not trying to inject any glamour into her role whatsoever, as might have been the case if certain other big name actresses had played the role. I am forever amazed by Blanchett's versatility! The girls playing the daughters were excellent

too, specially the youngest one, who had a number of intense emotional scenes.

I liked the bleak feeling presented in the film...the raw climate, the hopelessness combined with determination that the characters portrayed. The heroic rescue attempts were not without their screw-ups, making the story much more realistic than a typical Western shoot-em-up hero movie.

I also enjoyed the element of mysticism, which was pulled off without being too corny. The main villain in this film was quite possibly the creepiest, ugliest villain to grace the screen in years! Yet somehow it wasn't too trite either.

My personal beef with most Hollywood epics is that friggin' annoying sweeping soundtrack music, which practically spells out to you how you are supposed to feel, replacing the emotion that should have been created by the acting and directing. Thankfully, the soundtrack didn't overwhem this film. Just some well placed ambient music which supplemented the scenes nicely.

Definitely one of the better films I've seen lately. I rate it 8/10.

God, how this film touched me. I saw something in Ms. Blanchett that I have never seen before; she actually became the character from the book and I was moved. After seeing the movie I tracked the book down ( it was difficult believe it or not ) and finished it in six hours. I am wondering why the screen writers changed the final scenes. Don't get me wrong, Ron Howard makes good to great movies ( this is a solid film from the historical point of view as well ) but I am left with more questions for him than I feel I will ever get answers.

Very reminiscent of 'The Searchers', probably the best of the John Wayne-John Ford teamups, 'Missing' plays better as a thriller set in the West, than as a 'mystical Western' (which is what I think it was really going for). Predictably excellent performances from Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, and a fantastic performance from Eric Schweig as the Apache witch doctor. I was surprised to discover the film was mostly dumped on by critics in the US, and bombed there. It's had a much better response here, as I think it should have. Look out also for Evan Rachel Wood, so good in 'Thirteen', as the older of Blanchett's two daughters. This ranks as Ron Howard's best.

Maggie Gilkeson is a single mother working as a doctor in New Mexico. She is hardy and seemingly strong. When an old man with Indian looks shows up seeking treatment, she finds that he is her father, whom she has blamed for her mother's death when he abandoned them as a child. She rejects his attempts to apologise and sends him on his way. When an Indian raiding party kidnaps Maggie's eldest, Lily, she has to turn to Samuel for his ability to track them.

With so few westerns being released to our multiplexes it is important not to go crazy with hype when one is released. In the UK we will have this film and Open Range released within a few weeks of one another and nearly every review you read can't help but draw attention to that as if somehow the recent Westerns we've had are some sort of golden age. I watched this just as I watch any film of any genre, whether the western happens to be neglected recently or not. The plot here is basically the journey and Jones' attempts at a sort of redemption. The film is perhaps a touch long, but it still fills the running time well. The action stuff is good but it is also well complimented by the more emotional core. It isn't perfect of course, but it does well and makes for an engaging and entertaining film. Of the things I'd like to have seen gone, the whole black magic side of the film didn't work for me and gave the story a mysticism that I didn't think it actually needed.

The cast are very good though. Jones manages to actually play an unexplained white man who was `with the Indians' without it being unbearably laughable. He is a more interesting character than the writing would have done alone or with a lesser actor. Blanchett makes up for her dire work in LOTR with a gutsy performance that gradually transforms as the film goes. Schweig is a great baddie despite his low screentime. It is good that the PC brigade didn't mean that this character had to be twisted in keeping with the modern cliché that all Indians are moral and upright. Boyd is much better here than in that terrible Dickie Roberts thing. She does have to do a little too much screaming at times but generally is up to the task. Support from Kilmer, Clint Howard and others are welcome in support and there is not really a weak link in the cast.

Overall this is not a great western, and wouldn't really stand out in the genre. However it is one of the better films out in the cinema right now. It has a good central story with reasonably good characters and it is only the mystical stuff and some weaknesses in the script that stops it being better.