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List Price: $19.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 31500
Released: February 24, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.27 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The Missing is the story of Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett), a young woman raising her two daughters in an isolated and lawless wilderness. When her oldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by a psychopathic killer with mystical powers (Eric Schweig), Maggie is forced to re-unite with her long estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) to rescue her. The killer and his brutal cult of desperados have kidnapped several other teenage girls, leaving a trail of death and horror across the desolate landscape of the American Southwest.
Description of The Missing (Widescreen Edition):
Cate Blanchett blazes through The Missing, a new Western directed by Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13). The camera truly loves the planes of her face; even dusty and bedraggled, she radiates star power--which is good, because The Missing needs it. When her daughter is kidnapped by renegade Indians, Maggie Gilkeson (Blanchett) is forced to turn to her estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black, The Fugitive), a man who abandoned her as a child to join an Indian tribe. Together, they pursue a malignant brujo (or witch), who sells young girls in Mexico. The Missing features solid supporting performances from Evan Rachel Wood, Eric Schweig, Aaron Eckhart, Val Kilmer, and feisty young Jenna Boyd as Maggie's youngest daughter Dot, who refuses to be left behind. Despite the cast and some gorgeous cinematography, though, The Missing never finds its stride. --Bret Fetzer
The Missing (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Great Movie 
2009-11-05 - Great story set in the old west. Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett do a great job. Recommend to old west story lovers.
Frontier woman 
2009-08-01 - Cate Blanchett plays a woman living in a wild west frontier in New Mexico. She is a single woman raising two daughters on her won, earning her living as a healer. She has a lover who visits her often and takes care of her errands for medical supplies. One day, unexpectedly, her estranged father appers looking like an Indian. It is apparent from the start that their relationship is strained and that she does not wish him around.
It happens so that one day her daughters are being escorted to a city. When they do not return at scheduled time she starts searching for them, only to find all men kiled, her youngest daughter in shock and her eldest one missing. It is only at this point that she and her father make alliance to find her missing daughter and save her from being sold into a Mexico where she will be forced into prostitution.
What I liked about the movie is that it is one of the rare western movies where woman has significant influence over course of events. Cate Blanchett is tall, beautiful, and event in her frontier clothes she looks fashionable and put together. Tommy Lee Jones gives a wonderful perfromance as her father whose wondering eye kept him from raising his daughter and protecting his family. This is Ron Howard's movie.
A Good Western 
2009-05-21 - I believe the casting is the best part. The actors fit the parts. A story about the Apache's raiding ranches in New Mexico and a mothers efforts to get her daughter back after she was taken. Tommy Lee Jones plays the girls grandfather who shows up after many years absence. Jones is very believable in westerns and should do more. Blanchett could do anything. Combine them with Ron Howard and you have a winner. The casting director should be rewarded as well. I recommend this movie.
A DARING NEW SPIN ON THE WESTERN GENRE!
2009-03-22 - "The Missing" is Ron Maxwell's take on one of America's greatest genres, the Western. What makes this one unique is the mystic elements infused into a fascinating tale an estranged father and daughter teaming up to find her daughter, who's been captured to be sold into Mexico by a team lead by an Brujo, or Indian witch. Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett lead a terrific cast, while the direction, cinematography and music come together beautifully. While it is a bit slow at times, the great elements make this a powerful film that fans of the genre will surely enjoy!
Movie/DVD Grade: A-
Yahoo! A good old spine-tingling Western!
2009-02-25 - Leave it to Director Ron Howard to produce a spine-tingling movie that kept me on the edge of my seat...too engrossed to eat the popcorn!
Superb cinematography! Fine casting! Breathtaking scenery! Original plot!
Cate Blanchett is perfect in the role of Maggie Gilkeson, a young woman raising two daughters alone in a barren Southwest wilderness. She scrapes out a living being a respected "healer," with help from her friend Brake (played by Aaron Echhart).
All seems to be going well in the Old West until her estranged father--brilliantly portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones--returns and stirs up bitter memories of his abandoning his family to join a tribe of Indians.
***THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, BUT OTHER REVIEWERS HAVE ALREADY SPILLED THE BEANS, SO-OOO...***
When Brake and a ranch-hand take the daughters, Lily and Dot, out on the range, a renegade band of escaped Apache scouts kidnaps Lily, shoots the ranch-hand and brutally tortures and kills Brake, then goes on to their next slaughter, kidnapping more young girls.
When Maggie searches for them, she's stunned at the horrific scene. With no sign of her daughters, she's relieved when Dot comes out of hiding, and desperate on learning that Lily was taken by the Indians.
Since law enforcement doesn't have the manpower to help her, and government troops head off in the wrong direction, Maggie turns to her estranged father for help. They learn that this band has been burning homesteads and slaughtering all but the young girls, whom they kidnap to sell in Mexico.
Dot refuses to remain behind, so they reluctantly take her along. This turn of events adds more tension as the trio heads out. What happens as they track the desperadoes is movie excitement at its best. Under the superb directorial skills of Ron Howard, this movie goes from one exciting scene to the next, while the viewer worries whether they will be in time to save Lily and the other unfortunate girls.
Blanchett and Jones are excellent in their roles, while troubled teen Lily (Evan Rachel Wood) and precocious Dot (Jenna Boyd) give convincing performances. Eric Schweig gives a chilling performance as the psychopathic Apache brujo (male witch) leading the Indians.
I truly enjoyed The Missing (Widescreen Edition) and recommend it highly. My cowboy hat's off to Director Ron Howard, a true mover-and-shaker in the Industry.
Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, February 2009
