MISSING (2023)

Here's the decision. From the team that edited 2018's SEARCHING comes another thriller told almost entirely through computers, smartphones, and street cameras — and it works. MISSING is intense, suspenseful, and full of twists that keep resetting what you think you know. At its center is something Scripture prizes: a broken mother-daughter relationship healed through trial.

But it earns its PG-13 and then some. There's strong foul language, including two "f" words. There's real peril — struggles for survival, kidnappings, gunplay. There's a passing reference to drug abuse and underage drinking. This is grown-up fare, not a family night pick.

So: if you're an adult or older teen who enjoys a sharp thriller and won't be troubled by the content, this is a good one — but its intensity and edges make it better suited for home, where you control the viewing. Choosing for younger kids? This isn't the one.

June is an 18-year-old in Los Angeles whose widowed mother, Grace, leaves for a Colombian vacation with her boyfriend, Kevin. The two haven't been getting along, but June agrees to pick them up when they return.

They never come off the plane. Their luggage is still at the hotel. The security footage will be auto-erased in 24 hours. With the FBI tangled in red tape, June hires a cheap local guide named Javi and starts hunting for the truth from behind her own screen — until the clues begin to unravel everything she thought she knew about her mother.

Three stars, and here's what they mean. MISSING is a genuinely gripping thriller, built by the same filmmakers who made SEARCHING — and it uses the same trick, staging the whole mystery through computers, phones, and street cameras. The twists land, the suspense is real, and June's screen-bound detective work is clever.

It's not quite as good as its predecessor. SEARCHING remains the sharper film, and MISSING carries slightly more foul language. But as a piece of suspense craft, it delivers — an intense, twist-driven ride that keeps you guessing, anchored by a mother-daughter relationship worth caring about.

MISSING carries a strong moral worldview, and it's the best thing about it. At heart, this is a story about a damaged mother-daughter bond repaired through a trial by fire. June and Grace begin the film at odds; by the end, survival forces them to fight for each other, and that fight heals what was broken between them. That's a theme worth honoring — love that endures and reconciliation that costs something.

The film doesn't sanitize its world, though. It's populated by lying, deceit, hidden truths, and betrayal — a man cheats on his girlfriend with a younger woman he met online. Danger is constant. The moral center holds, but it's surrounded by real darkness, which is part of why this thriller isn't for younger viewers.

Underneath the mystery runs the ache of a relationship gone cold and the longing to make it right. Scripture knows that longing well, and calls it something a family can practice: "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).

MISSING is a smart, tense thriller with a moral core — a story about a mother and daughter finding their way back to each other through fire. It's also loaded with strong language, peril, and grown-up edges that make it no place for younger kids. So here's our answer, the same one we opened with: wait for home — adults only. Planning family movie night instead? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.