User reviews

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.

Ron Howard directs Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, Evan Rachel Wood, and Val Kilmer in "The Missing," a 2003 western.

Cate Blanchett plays Maggie Gilkeson, a medical woman in 1885 New Mexico, where she lives with her daughters and a ranch hand Brake (Aaron Eckhart), who is also her lover. One day, her father Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones) shows up after 20 years. She wants nothing to do with him as he left the family to go live with the Indians.

He finally gets the message and takes off, only to become drunk in town and land in jail. Meanwhile, Maggie's daughter Lily has been kidnapped and Brake murdered, apparently by Indians. Unable to get help from the sheriff, Maggie reluctantly has her father released from jail and asks for his help in finding her daughter.

Lily and other girls have been kidnapped with the intention of selling them into prostitution. The kidnappers are a combination of renegade Indians and whites who are working with them. Maggie, her father, and her young daughter, who refuses to be left behind, set out on their trail.

Glorious-looking film that points up the brutality of life in the west, as well as the filth, and the strength that people had to have to survive. A woman had to be able to use a rifle, hunt, skin a deer, and do all the things that the men had to do.

My understanding is that this film bombed; I'm not sure why. It has wonderful performances and no expense was spared, and also, as far as the violence, seems realistic.

Cate Blanchett gives a magnificent performance as Maggie, a determined woman made of steel, who doesn't care what her father does for her - she still hates him. Tommy Lee Jones is a no-nonsense faux Indian (he might be part-Indian - this isn't made clear, but it seems unlikely) who knows his way around and believes in all the Indian lore. In one striking scene, Maggie becomes extremely ill -- according to Samuel, the brujo (Indian witch) put a curse on her. He calls in one of the Indians helping them to break the spell; meanwhile, her daughter reads the Bible out loud.

"The Missing" is reminiscent of "The Searchers" but here, the relationship between Samuel and Maggie goes a little deeper than thqt of Martin and Ethan. Maggie slowly moves from dislike to an uneasy alliance to a limited understanding of Samuel and finally, acceptance and gratitude, even if it's without total understanding. For Samuel, he is doing what he was told to do by a medicine man -- return to his family and protect them.

Truly excellent film, an old-fashioned western in many ways, intertwined with a strong relationship story and suspense.

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.

It's 1885 New Mexico, Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) has return to reconcile with his estranged daughter Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett). He had abandoned her 20 years ago, and she rejects him right away. When her oldest daughter Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by Indian outlaws, Maggie must seek his father's help.

This is a departure from the usual Ron Howard fare. It's moody atmosphere can be attributed mostly to Tommy Lee Jones' performance. It's a fascinating side note to Howard's career and great to see him imitate 'The Searchers'. There is a lot of ugliness being shown but the ending is too traditional for this stark dark tale. I think Howard couldn't really go to the lower depths in the end. It's a great effort for an accomplished director to go outside his comfort zone.

A great western movie with a really good story and character development. Worth the watch.

Ron Howard usually plays it both straight and safe, never taking too many risks, never siding too much with abstraction or grey areas, and over the years this has made me somewhat of a non fan. Not a hater, simply seldom blown away or challenged by his work. With The Missing, however, he strayed from the path and brought us a dark, threatening picture of life on the frontier in all its brutal, treacherous glory. With the success of last year's brilliant Bone Tomahawk, I couldn't help but be reminded of this beauty, as there are elements of horror and evil dancing on a thread with origin points in both films. Different altogether, but from the same elemental stew and highly reminiscent of each other. Cate Blanchett is hard bitten single mother Magdalena, trying her best to raise two daughters (Evan Rachel Wood and the excellent Jenna Boyd) with only the help of her sturdy farmhand (Aaron Eckhart). One misty night, someone or something snatches Wood right out of her bed and disappears into the wilderness with her. Magdalena is raw and determined, launching a desperate search across woods and plains to find her kin. Joining her is her half breed injun father Samuel, played by an eerily convincing Tommy Lee Jones. Samuel left her years before and only re-emerges in her life for fear of being punished for forsaking his family in the beyond. Gradually he turns around and a bond is formed through the crisis, an arc which Jones nails like the pro he is. It turns out they are tracking a group of despicable human traffickers who take girls and sell them across the border into sex slavery. They are led by a mysterious witchdoctor (Eric Schweig) whose tactics border on voodoo prowess. It's scary stuff, never outright horror, but sure aims for that with its hazy nocturnal atmosphere in which any denizen of the night could be poised behind the next thicket or cluster of trees, ready to pounce. Blanchett is tough as nails, a terrific female protagonist blessed with a mother's love and a winchester to back it up. Jones is gruff and badass, believable as a native American and treated as a well rounded character seeking redemption in his twilight years. There's also fine work from Steve Reevis, Clint Howard, Elizabeth Moss and a cool cameo from Val Kilmer as a sergeant who helps them out. My favourite Ron Howard film by far. Just a mean, dark genre piece that aims to thrill and chill in equal measures and comes up aces.

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.

Just took another look at this curiosity. The Missing is certainly a compelling and at times confronting watch, it's set in the South/West in a time and place where such evil practices took place and does not attempt to 'romanticise' it's realistic characters. Ron Howard's direction is accomplished, giving us both gruelling and challenging entertainment - filled with exciting authenticity and suspense - unfortunately, being a western, it was difficult to sell to the average movie-going public of its day. The story by Thomas Eidson has a committed authenticity for the pioneering days of the American West and Ken Kaufman's screenplay adaption keeps it bristling with tough situations and colourful characterisations.

One problem could be that somewhere, someone allowed it to go on a bit too long--even though it always remains watchable. There's a particularly exciting sequence that I can understand could end up being rather difficult for some to accept, this involves an ageing Tommy Lee Jones's character enduring considerable punishment at the hands of his enemies - then mustering up the energy to confront them with some demanding activities. Failing this, the story has enough elements and twists to intrigue and leave us wondering how the tense situations will play out in the finale.

The widescreen cinematography is impressive and there's a complex James Horner score to add interest. Performances are convincing, with Jones being perfect as the mysterious Indian outsider (or is he??) and for those who understand near-lost languages, there's authentic Native American dialogue being used to fine effect. It's quite an epic and more suited to lovers of historical character studies.

"The Missing", starring Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones, is one of those movies that will come and go without getting noticed by audiences let alone any of the award programs. That's a shame because it's a tightly plotted film with interesting, sympathetic characters in a Western setting, but minus most of the tired Western genre devices.

In "The Missing", Cate Blanchett plays Maggie Gilkeson, a tough, frontier doctor / rancher with two young daughters (played by Evan Rachel Wood and Jenna Boyd), and a farmhand / love interest (Aaron Eckhart) named Brake, who also acts as her family's dedicated protector.

Unexpectedly, her father (Tommy Lee Jones) comes back into her life after abandoning his family years before to live with the Indians. His attempts to make amends for his past mistakes are rebuffed until rogue Indians attack Gilkeson's family and kidnap one of her daughters. Reluctantly, she asks her father to use his hunting & tracking skills to follow the Indians and recover her daughter.

The story in "The Missing" works along two tracks. While following and clashing with the rogue Indians provides ample suspense, action, and peril, the emotional drama between Gilkeson and her father keeps the movie interesting, dynamic, and makes us care about these peoples. For a Western, the film lacks all of the cardboard cutout characters. There are no gunslingers (in the tradition of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti Westerns) in "The Missing". The characters are flawed and emotionally vulnerable in their own believable, endearing way.

As a film, "The Missing" also provides a rare, balanced view of Native Americans during the mid 19th century. They are portrayed as neither doe-eyed victims (as in "Dances With Wolves"), nor are they mindless savages (as in almost any John Wayne Western). I will note that Chidin (Eric Schweig), the primary "bad guy" Indian, seems to go a little over the top at times, but this is forgivable given the film's many other strengths.

Suffice it to say that all of the acting is solid. We probably won't see any 'best actor' or 'best actress' nominations, but you never do with Westerns. Blanchett continues to expand her repertoire ranging from eccentric British Queen ("Elizabeth") to destructive bar trash ("Shipping News") with this role. Meanwhile, Tommy Lee Jones continues to be typecast as "the guy who hunts people" which started years ago with "The Fugitive" and hasn't varied much since.

In the end, one of the things I liked best about "The Missing" is the genuine danger for all of the major characters. The film establishes early on that bad things can and will happen to the characters we like the most. As a result, it's impossible to guess who will make it to the end of the story and that means you have real suspense (an increasingly rare occurrence in suspense films).

So, go see "The Missing" while everyone else is piling into the better-marketed blockbusters. You know you'll get both a good seat and a good movie without a lot of fuss.

We're in New Mexico it's 1885. Magdalena (Maggie) Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett) is living with her two daughters Lilly (Evan Rachel Woods) and the youngest Dot (Jenna Boyd). She's running a small farm, and gets by being the closest thing to being a doctor for miles. Helping her is her boyfriend Brake (Aaron Eckhart). One day an elderly gentleman is arriving at their place, looking for the Healer as she is being called locally.

It turns out that the gentleman is named Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) and by the way is the father of Maggie. Samuel has for years being living as an Indian amongst the natives. Maggie doesn't like it, she's mad at him for leaving the family.

One day Lilly, Dot and Brake is out amongst the cattle, and a group of Apache Indians and military people kidnaps Lilly, and are on their way to Mexico to sell the eight women they have kidnapped. Sadley Brake is killed in a horrendous way.

Though not really what she wants, Maggie and Dot teams up with Samuel to hunt down the kidnappers and free Lilly.

A gruesome fight breaks out between the two teams, will Maggie succeed in freeing Lilly from the life as a slave in Mexico?

Nowadays westerns are not made on a bigger scale, the reigns of the John Wayne type of character is no more. It seems it has to be something special and different. To really give clout to the project Ron Howard is chosen to direct, Jones and Blanchett, two of the best actors in the world of today, are playing the leads, and Woods and Boyd plays the daughters with conviction. Mix it with a bit of Indian magic or witchery and a Christian pray for a good outcome of the story!

It's a fine story, and quite exciting what the outcome will be. Recommended.

Cate Blanchett is a tough-as-nails frontierwoman whose significant other (Aaron Eckhart) is slain and whose eldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by a savage tribe in 19th-century New Mexico. Reluctantly, Maggie Gilkerson (Blanchett) must ask her long-estranged father Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones) to help her track down her daughter. (Samuel shows up at the family homestead early in the film, having been absent from Maggie's life since she was a very small girl.)

So there's your basic story. Maggie and Samuel, with the younger daughter Dot in tow, attempt to recover eldest daughter Lily. On the surface, it sounds like any other rescue movie, but there are a couple of interesting elements that set this movie apart from others.

For one thing, there's the relationship between Maggie and Samuel. As you can imagine, Maggie's a little bitter at having been abandoned all those years ago, but she needs her father. Samuel, by contrast, isn't the apologizing or type - yes, a recipe for disaster.

The other intriguing element is the theme of mysticism. Maggie is a pious God-fearin' Christian, whereas Samuel is as close to being an American Indian as a white man can get - i.e., he's well attuned to the powers of medicine men and shamans.

For me, this movie was carried quite ably by two towering polarizing performances, by Blanchett and Jones. In fact, I think Cate Blanchett was absolutely amazing in this movie. For a woman as beautiful and glamorous as Blanchett is - and can play - her Maggie was as down-and-dirty and multilayered as that of an Oscar-worthy performance. I believe this movie would have been nearly worthless had Blanchett not been cast.

The Missing is one of the best traditional American westerns made since the turn of the millennium, up there together with Hotiles, the Homesman, and Open Range. What they have in common is a fundamental top artistic craft, from plot and direction to cinematography and acting performances. If you're not tired of Tommy Lee Jones again practically being some kind of version of himself, the general cast could probably not be better, and Cate Blanchett is almost too good as the heroin Magdalena, who with her lost and detested father sets out to find her captured daughter. The setting is full enough of death, blood, dust and indigenous shamanism, with Eric Schweig as a perfect Apache villain. Also Val Kilmer has a surprisingly small role as a US Cavalry lieutenant. It's all very good, but could even become perfect if it were a little less sentimental and predictable, and there were no logical or technical flaws. The music is very nice, but it just doesn't match the cruel and dusty scenery.

Lurking Beneath the "PG-13" Persona of Director Ron Howard is an "R" Rated Monster Threatening and Poking the Film-Maker and His Attempt to Make "Art" that Rests Comfortably in the Laps of Middle Class Families.

Having Grown-Up Delivering Patently Parental "Safe Zones" via the "Tube" with Mega TV-Hits Like "The Andy Griffith Show" and Swiftly and Slickly Moved to Another Huge-Hit "Happy Days".

Both Series were Immensely Popular, Ran for Years in Syndication and Howard was an Integral Part of Both Shows.

Beginning His Directorial Career with Fluff and Stuff of Such Light-Weight Films Like "Grand Theft Auto" (1977) and a bit Later"Splash" (1984).

It Can't be Denied that Howard Hits now and then with Ultra-Popular, Award Winning Films and is Recognized World-Wide as Competent, Gifted, and With All the Money in the World, Capable.

"The Missing" is an Attempt at "True Grit" Storytelling in a Western Reminiscing "The Searchers" (1957).

You Can Tell that He has a Soft-Spot for the 50's and a Time Less Complicated.

There's Plenty to also Attest that He is Trying Hard to Peep Out of the Pigeon-Hole that He Occupied Labeled "Safe" with a Govt Seal.

Cate Blanchard and Tommy Lee Jones are Top-Notch Professionals that Bring Solid, Hard to Criticize, Work-Horses Firmly in Place and Both Deliver Exactly as Planned.

The Action is on Hand to Accent the Family-Tragedy that is an Easy Melodramatic Follow and Feel.

Howard Succeeds in Keeping the Film Flowing with Beautifully Staged Tropes of the Genre.

Where His Guilt Shows is the "Tough-Stuff" Like Kidnapping, Human Trafficking, and the Vile and Repulsive Things that the Mind Imagines what this Actually Meant in Real-Life.

He Thinks by Excessive Pushing and Shoving the Girls Around is a Representative Replacement of Rape and Sado-Masochistic Treatment.and

All is Well in "Speilberg-Land".

It's a Fear that Howard will Probably Never Overcome.

But When His Career is Said and Done. Perhaps He Should have Feared Life in the Pigeon Hole even More.

Granted, what will happen in the end is kind of predictable, but this movie was really quite good. Tommy Lee Jones was his usual cool self, but I think that the real acting marks go to Cate Blanchett in the role of Maggie. I think that this film had a great and well written story with good performances, especially from the kids who are notoriously hard to work with. I felt that the movie was well paced, with excellent cinematography, and had some great sound. Nice to see Ron "Opie Cunningham" Howard do a western. Who says you can't go west unless you're Clint Eastwood?

When her daughter is kidnapped, a woman has to reunite with her estranged father to track her down.....

Ron Howard has made an impressive movie. He stages some impressive sequences, some with a touch of horror mainly due to the villain, El Brujo. The climax of the movie is also well handled. And as he has showing repeatedly, gets excellent performances from his cast.

It does help that he has cast two of the best actors working in Hollywood in the lead roles. Cate Blanchett is as good as always as Magdalena a woman determined to get her daughter back no mater what. Tommy Lee Jones cast as her father is also very good. They are given good material to work with in Ken Kaufman's screenplay, which is based on a novel by Thomas Eidson.

In truth however, it's a story that could work in almost any setting, such as modern day, or in any genre. It so happens to be western set, but as I said, there is a touch of the supernatural with regard to the main villain, El Brujo, which is an interesting twist.

While it won't be considered an all-out action western, it's never supposed to be. What it is however, is a tense and gripping movie, that also works on an emotional level too.

It's well worth checking out.

Tough to go wrong with Jones and Blanchet.

A common theme in Hollywood movies is, "my kid is stubborn - so I have to let them put themselves in harm's way".

It's ridiculous, and no parent - then or now - would ever do it.

You'd tie your daughter to a tree at a neighbor's house before such.

But with that said, I like how this movie shows the good and bad of natives; vs just making them 'majestic creatures of the forest'. Lol Trust me, I live next to a res - and I'm pretty sure I've stood in line with that witch dude.

Not a pleasant experience.

All in all, solid in every way.

One of the few of the last couple of decades I'd say is a 'must own'.

The Missing is a very good film. Tommy Lee Jones was very good and I thought Cate Blanchett acted rather well. I was surprised to see Val Kilmer in the film. James Horner's music is good in the film and it has very good direction by Ron Howard! The film has good action and is emotional. Though its wired on the box it says that what has taken Maggie's daughter is a hooded phantom with shape shifting powers. The evil witch as he is called in the movie does not shape change or is he ever seen with a hood. Is this Ron Howard's best film? Its up there but not his best. In My opinion Howard's all time greatest is Willow! Is this the best film Tommy Lee Jones has been in? In My opinion no it is not! I really like his roles in The Hunted and the Fugitive. Anyway The Missing is a good film and if you like to see a western with a big mystery then see The Missing!

Movie Nuttball's NOTE:

Fans of Tommy Lee Jones, check out these other great films! The Package, Under Siege, The Fugitive, Batman Forever, U.S. Marshals, Double Jeopardy, and The Hunted,

Fans of Ron Howard check out Willow, Backdraft, Apollo 13, and Ransom!

Fans of James Horner check out these great movie with scores composed by one of the greatest! Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Krull, Commando, Aliens, Willow, The Land Before Time, and Humanoids from the Deep (1980 version).

Very good western with excellent performances by all. Believable action and a script that will keep you interested on many levels.

The movie "The Missing" follows the tradition of Robert De Niro, George C. Scott, and Harry Dean Stanton, with Tommy Lee Jones as a craggy loner and Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett) as the heroine. Maggie is a frontier rancher who lives with two daughters and has a hired man who provides sex, but isn't allowed to spend the night. She has some doctoring skills and is pulling an old woman's tooth as the film opens. Samuel Jones plays Maggie's father, Samuel, who has been living with Indians for years. When her daughter Lily is captured by Indians, Maggie asks him to join her in the search. Dot (Jenna Boyd) also joins her in the search. This movie is a preposterous setup, with the logistics of the chase defying common sense. The underlying assumption that an old white coot and his daughter can out-Injun the Injuns is offensive and the 10-year-old is brought along to provide a young girl for scenes in which she is in danger. The 10-year-old is brought along to provide a young girl for scenes in which she is in danger. The Missing is phenomenal Western with a 135 minute running time. It is a lean little oater that could have held down half of a double bill back when Westerns were popular, but these days audiences need a reason to see a Western. Jones has sad eyes and underplays his role to avoid parody, while Blanchett is strong and determined. At 135 minutes, the movie is way too long, making it a B Western jumped up out of its category. Kevin Costner gives them one in "Open Range," but Howard has taken a day off. Missing is a standalone sequel to the 2018 film Searching, which starred John Cho as a father trawling the internet to locate his daughter. It follows a teenager's desperate attempt to find her mother after she doesn't return from a holiday in Colombia with her new boyfriend. The two movies share DNA, with Nicholas D Johnson and Will Merrick working as editors on Searching and Aneesh Chaganty as the producer. The inventive approach and frantic energy of the storytelling elevate the picture above its slightly gimmicky formal device, though this film lacks the novelty value that made Searching such a talking point. Storm Reid, who stars as the tech-savvy June, serves as our anchor throughout a smart but occasionally preposterous thriller.

If you like a good Western then "Missing" won't disappoint!

Released in 2003, this modern take of a Western is a very good effort. With a steady storyline and some strong performances by the two lead actors it's well worth getting the popcorn out for!

The acting was very good. The scenery was so real looking that it made you feel you were back there in that time. A little far fetch, but when a movie makes me feel all their aches and pains, than I say job well done. Walked out feeling depress, how mankind always treated one another.

While this film had all the ingredients for a typical old fashioned western - abducted child, evil 'baddies', estranged grandfather returns and searches for child - it thankfully never fall's into this category.

It didn't follow in this manner due mainly to Tommy Lee's character which develops really well during the film. His initially apparent all action superhero persona develops in a totally different way when self doubt, self obsession, lack of confidence and fear all come into play. Superbly played by Tommy Lee who really did look every inch the part.

All in all a well acted and scripted film with superb camera work making the most of the wonderful scenery that only the American west can provide.

Really enjoyed Val Kilmer's cameo role of a Cavalry officer. His unit of troopers were certainly no cavalry charging, bugle playing superhero's.

Special mention also goes to Cate Blanchett who played her part perfectly.

Probable dual meaning; "The Missing" refers to the kidnapping (which didn't glorify the kidnapping act; Howard was gentle here and didn't celebrate the grim details surrounding the abduction, but rather the emotions of those left behind)... AS WELL AS the absentee father who re-emerges into the life of Maggie. I'm just happy to see Howard maintain his style of directing, along with his willingness to stay diverse in his style... I really enjoyed this. No reason to attack; There may have been flaws here and there, but nothing to comment on for me...