More than meets the eye

Movie Review – Missing

Missing, a mystery / drama, was released in theaters on Friday, January 20. I was very excited to see this movie due to the many trailers I saw. Let’s just say the movie definitely lived up to my expectations. I enjoyed it a lot.

June (played by Storm Reid) is left at home alone when her mom (Nia Long) goes on a vacation to Columbia with her new boyfriend. June’s mom asks her to pick them up at the airport when they return, except when she goes to pick them up, her mother is not there. It is up to June, who is only a teen, to figure out what happened thousands of miles away in Los Angeles.

June’s only resources are technology. Will June find out what happened before it’s too late?

The movie had tons of plot twists and made me feel like I had to keep my eyes glued to the screen. I really enjoyed it, although the end made me annoyed. The movie can be a bit intense though if you plan on going with your family, so it may not be the best for younger audiences. I did go with my 12-year old cousin, however, and she was mostly fine but I had to warn her before every scary scene.

Storm Reid, who plays June, may be familiar to you from her role as Meg in 2018’s A Wrinkle in Time. In Missing, June is a very relatable character. At first she doesn’t have the greatest relationship with her mom and she has a lot of attitude. She even throws a party in the beginning of the movie when her mother is out of the country.

June goes through a lot of character development though, due to everything with her mom’s disappearance.

Another actor I was surprised to see was Thomas Barbusca, who plays YouTube Sleuth #1, who you may recognize from his role as Leo in 2016’s Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life. He is seen talking to his fans about the mystery of June’s mom.

A surprising fact is that both Storm Reid and Thomas Barbusca appeared on episodes of The Thundermans.

Missing has some life lessons in it, too, such as to enjoy the time you have with your loved ones, you never know when something will happen.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery movies with tons of plot twists. I enjoyed it so much I watched it twice! My rating for it is a 9 out of 10, which is really good. The only reason it’s not a 10 is that I didn’t like the end much, but the rest of the movie makes up for that! Definitely go give it a watch!