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04/02/05
The Missing (2003)
59
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:166
Fresh:98
Rotten:68
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: An expertly acted and directed Western. But like other Ron Howard features, the movie is hardly subtle.
Runtime: 2 hrs 34 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $26,811,707
Synopsis: Director Ron Howard, who impressed audiences with BACKDRAFT (1991) and A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001), has outdone himself with THE MISSING, a wrenching family drama that unfolds in the midst of a classic... [More]
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Evan Rachel Wood, Eric Schweig
Director: Ron Howard
Reviews for The Missing
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticClick to read the article
10/18/08
Top CriticAlthough based on a novel, Thomas Eidson's The Last Ride, the story feels stretched to the snapping point and is certainly unfocused.
11/25/03
A movie is only as good as its villain, so they say, and the new film The Missing has a particularly lousy one.
11/27/03
The film sounds very few emotionally-striking notes.
11/19/03
The Missing has to be one of the more brutal, repulsive and doggedly unpleasant Westerns ever made by a major studio -- so grim and depressing it's hard to imagine how anyone but a masochistic critic could stand to sit through it.
11/25/03
However bogged down by predictable story rhythms, banally assembled shoot-outs, and climactic mano a mano, The Missing has an acidic period tone, a respect for the reality of violence, and a refreshing dearth of superhuman heroics and easy triumph.
11/25/03
Could have worked as a psychological thriller, but it plays its hand too early and too often.
11/24/03
[A] fine film.
11/26/03
The cast is uniformly terrific.
11/30/03
Reminds us, once again, that the western remains a viable and exciting genre.
11/26/03
Howard is all craft and no emotion, making his movie less like a western than a reenactment of a western.
11/26/03
The Missing is arguably Ron Howard's grittiest effort to date as a filmmaker.
11/25/03
A big snooze because we can't take the main characters seriously.
11/26/03
As a good ol' damsels-in-distress Western...The Missing is reliable, if over-earnest, matinee fodder. Unfortunately, the director has his eye on the Oscar...
11/25/03
This is (Ron) Howard’s darkest film to date, and it is good to see him ably handle such a subject. Howard has developed into one of Hollywood’s finest filmmakers. ...
11/26/03
A terrific setup, full of inviting genre familiarity and modern tension, borrowed from the novel of the same name. And then, as that mouthy teenager goes lost in an Apache raid, so does the movie itself.
11/26/03
Missing a little something.
11/25/03
A story well-told and built upon the solid foundation of Blanchett’s supremely capable performance.
11/25/03
Anyone hungerin' to get back in the saddle for a good ol' epic western will find The Missing highly satisfying.
11/26/03
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