Missing, 2023’s best mystery thriller, is now on Netflix

It’s rare that a mystery movie feels new. From the world’s greatest detectives to based-on-a-beach-read thrillers, movies have mined the mystery genre for nearly all it’s worth over the years. Which is why it’s so nice when something like Missing It’s a new formula that shakes things up a bit.

Missing is the 2023 follow-up to 2018’s Search Engine and follows June Allen (Storm Reid), a teenager who never really knew her father and loves (but doesn’t always get along with) her doing-her-best single mom — and she gets along even worse with her mom’s latest boyfriend. June is unable to get along with her mother, but when she mysteriously vanishes while on a vacation in Mexico, June uses all the tools at her disposal to track her down.

This premise may sound simple, but that’s by design. Missing’s real hook is that it’s told entirely through the on-screen displays of the devices that are in front of us every day. Photo Booth windows are used to show scenes. FaceTime is also used for security footage that’s played on a computer monitor, as well as video chats and internet browsers. All in Missing The detective work done by June is all done on a computer screen. This isn’t the first movie to present its plot almost entirely through a screen, but it does take a more varied approach and changes locations more often than movies like UnfriendedThe sequel is superior. Dark Web Unfriended.

Image: Sony Pictures

This is where the movie’s cleverness really shines through. Missing is a movie that’s confident on the internet. The film understands that livestreams are available at all times of busy public spaces, or that Tasker and other gig apps can help you get to a place without actually going. There are clever phishing scams to catch boomers. And some account manipulation that is clever enough to work. It’s a refreshing change from the versions of the internet in other thrillers and never falls prey to their comical depictions of “hacking” or pretending their characters are tech geniuses.

This film is full of creative framing that uses video or webcams to create a real sense of suspense. We feel as helpless with June’s remote investigation. It’s an impressive feat to make sure all this camera work is never annoying and doesn’t call attention to itself, but debut Directors Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick and Will Merrick manage to pull off the film in an increasingly unexpected way up until Missing’s very last moments. The filmmakers find ways to show the action in a variety of different angles, without having it repeated too often. They also use the webcam and iPhone limitations as a way to create tension.

The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each other Missing The sum of the gimmicks is not enough. The movie is first and foremost a great entertainment. It gives viewers plenty of clues to solve its mystery themselves, but plays things out just as entertainingly if you’re an amateur Hercule Poirot or simply content to sit on the sidelines and let the characters do the solving. Beyond its mystery itself, Missing This is one of those rare thrillers that doesn’t let the stakes go out of control and still manages to keep things entertaining, even in dire situations.

Missing Netflix is streaming