Review: 'Missing' is a tight cyber thriller, where some big ideas play out on small screens

The cyber thriller “Missing” works — as its predecessor, “Searching,” did — because it keeps all its action on a computer screen, and finds an endless supply of tricks to make that visual premise work on our nerves for nearly two hours.

At 17, June (Storm Reid) barely lifts ahead above her laptop to acknowledge her mom, Grace (Nia Long), who’s getting ready to leave on a week’s vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung). June doesn’t think she has to look up, because everything she needs is on her screen, or on her phone. She’s got video to remember her late father (Tim Griffin), FaceTime to keep in touch with Grace’s longtime friend Heather (Amy Landecker), chat platforms to converse with her friends, and Google to research ways to get booze for a party she and her friends are going to throw as soon as Grace’s plane is airborne.

When June goes to LAX a week later to pick up her mother, Mom is a no-show. June learns, from the FBI’s man at the Bogota embassy, Agent Park (Daniel Henney) that Grace and Kevin’s luggage is still at their hotel in Cartagena, but no one knows what happens to them.

June is worried, but not without resources. She hacks into Kevin’s Google account to dig up information from his emails. Remotely, she hires Javi (Joaquim de Almeida), a day laborer in Cartagena, to go to Grace’s hotel to follow her trail. And she monitors surveillance cameras at Cartagena landmarks, in hopes her mom suddenly shows up.

June’s computer savvy uncovers some bombshells of information, which the story drops at steady intervals, creating some white-knuckle tension and some hairpin turns in the narrative.

Directors Nick Johnson and Will Merrick — who were editors on “Searching” — and co-screenwriter Sev Ohanian (who also co-wrote “Searching”) — create a cleverly rendered thriller, loaded with red herrings, switchback narratives, and some effective plot twists that keep June, and the audience, on their toes.

“Missing,” like “Searching” was before it, is an eye-opening commentary about the ubiquity of surveillance cameras, smartphones and easily hackable data — and a reminder that one’s personal data doesn’t necessarily remain personal for long. Wrapping that message up in a slick, fast-paced thriller just makes the message go down faster.

——

‘Missing’

★★★

Opens Friday, January 20, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material. Running time: 111 minutes.