Missing

Missing
Directed by Mike Storch
Written by Andres De La Hoz

First things first: If you haven't seen Missing, stop reading this review right now. This is not the kind of review that will tell you whether or not you'll want to see the film. You want to see the film. I can tell you that right now. In fact, you want to see it so much that you'll stop reading my inane gibberish and go watch it right now, with no preconceptions whatsoever. And I salute you for it. Off you go.

Missing, you see, is the kind of film that you want to see knowing absolutely nothing about. The reason the final plot development works is that you have no clue whatsoever that it's coming. Knowing that there's a twist at all sours the experience a bit (which is why Ramza's first post in the thread made me want to hit my head against the desk a few times). Still, Andres founds a devilishly brilliant concept on the relationship between the audience and how characters are introduced, and Mike pulls it off perfectly, so I suppose even if you're looking for a twist, you'll probably still be thinking in the wrong direction. It's a shame that more isn't done with it, but they were smart enough to end the movie quickly enough that it doesn't sag too much.

Evolving directly out of the success of Gnomes (literally; Missing would not have existed had Andres De La Hoz not liked that film so much), Mike Storch's new ten-minute drama shares a lot in common with his previous half-hour drama/horror epic. In many ways, Missing is the stronger of the two, but in others doesn't fare quite as well. Mike once again shows off his skill at creating a powerfully dark atmosphere, and Ramza's score is top-notch as usual. We open with a man waking up tied to a support beam in a basement with another man standing over him, who explains in great detail what's going to be done to him. As the torturer berates and taunts the man, we're given several effective shots around the room and various closeups on both men; I smiled at how the Timothy actor's mouth was below frame in most of the shots to hide his open-mouthed grin. Even in 2005, 3DMM dramas remain cursed with either a very limited actor selection or techniques to hide default goofiness that never quite works.

Which is an interesting thing about Missing -- in the four months that have passed since the last major film release, startling developments have been made in the realm of expansions. V3DMM has made it possible to create realistic effects for hundreds of the techniques we've had to suspend our disbelief for in the past. Goofy grins can be removed. Rain can look like actual rain. Blood can be done in realistic chunks and droplets and new vehicles and textures and objects can easily replace the archaic effects we were still using six months ago. Missing, started late last year, falls into that category, and comes awkwardly on the heels of some incredible developments, still using big, unweildly spinning explosios for rain and pixelated blood textures moving not quite in line with the actor's face and body. It's certainly not the film's fault, and it doesn't hurt the experience significantly, but in the wake of all these new advancements, you begin to notice it.

It doesn't matter. The film isn't about its effects as long as they're realistic enough to not seem comical. It's about darkness, helplessness, and tension, waiting for something horrible to happen. Things Storch has historically been very good at, Gnomes marking the first time in a 3DMM movie where I was actually on the edge of my seat, the scene where Sarah is being surrounded in the cabin. The pan of the 'tools' on the workbench in Missing is the second, and also serves as a long-awaited victory for testviewing. Countless movies I've been asked to testview have been released without a single change, despite the long list of suggestions I had at the end. Storch took the ideas his testviewers gave them and actually made some serious changes to the film's structure. The original version of the torture scene had a long setup with the torturer's description and taunts, only to have one shot of the chainsaw being used on the victim's shoulder, a cut to the other storyline of the wife looking for her husband, and a cut back to the torturer heading upstairs. Mike made some serious improvements for the final version, adding three new shots panning over a series of torture instruments as well as a few new torture shots, and the sequence is now ten times better.

It's not quite perfect. In terms of cinematography, the film often feels cramped and a little convoluted. Storch does far too much panning in places where it doesn't fit, and some static shots could have benefitted from a slow zoom in or out. Zooms often pull back when they should push in, or vice/versa, and many transitions between the two stories are jarring and don't feel quite right. As a whole, the positives outweigh the negatives and the film sustains itself, but at times it comes off as patchy and a little hard to follow. And the very end stumbles much in the same way Gnomes did, with a well-angled final shot that ultimately reveals nothing about its characters. Considering the relatively simple nature of the story, the film shouldn't seem this overcomplicated.

Ah, well. Missing is still founded a remarkably brilliant idea that toys with implied trust and audience assumptions in storytelling in a fantastic way, and manages to pull it off for the most part. Andres can be self-deprecating and consider it a gimmick if he wants, but there's something very cool at work here, and for the first time in 3DMM dark dramas, we have a twist that doesn't collapse under analysis -- from every angle, the revelation works and there's nothing nonsensical about the characters' motivations on the second watch. That's very difficult to do.

Critical Score: 80/100.
Personal Score: 92/100.