The Missing
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 19, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
22
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The combined intensity of these two performances (Jones and Blanchett) obliterates objections and raises the stakes in what might otherwise have been a standard western. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Has Blanchett and Jones to its credit. To watch them is to take in two of the screen's greatest natural wonders. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Good movie westerns these days may be too few and far between, but Ron Howard's The Missing is almost a great one. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Schickel
As for Blanchett, she's simply wonderful. She has played her share of queenly figures, but her acting essence is, emotionally speaking, plain-Jane. She's a straight shooter, with an uncanny ability to find a character's spine and communicate it without fuss or feathers. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
Probably the best Western since "Unforgiven." Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Ron Howard has delivered a movie that’s a big departure from his previous film, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." We may not remember him for "The Alamo," but we're glad he kept the Stetson. Read full review
75
PremiereSara Brady
Howard’s inclination toward graphic, gruesome violence, reminiscent of Ransom’s grisly denouement, The Missing is, at its core, a story well-told and built upon the solid foundation of Blanchett’s supremely capable performance. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Does not surpass Kevin Costner's "Open Range" for the title of Best Western of 2003, but it's a worthy effort and makes for an enjoyable (if slightly overlong) two-plus hours. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Just misses being great. The dark shaman mysticism doesn't entirely mesh with the earthbound quest across the wild and glorious Southwest. And the ending, with its shoot-outs and sacrifices, has a choppy, unneccessarily complicated feel. Read full review
75
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Ironically, what's lacking in Howard's stark, often brutal, late 19th-century chase drama is emotional punch. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
This movie will remind a lot of people of John Ford's masterpiece, "The Searchers," without the rowdy humor and, yes, without the greatness. But it's an admirably solid effort that's as mean as it has to be, which is plenty. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Ron Howard has never before made a picture this raw and alive. At the same time, this tale of the desperate pursuit of the kidnappers of young women makes for a fundamentally grim and unpleasant experience. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Improbable and, at times, sadistic, but, considered as a piece of direction, this Western, set in New Mexico in 1885, is as confident as anything that Ron Howard has done. [8 December 2003, p. 139]
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The only thing they don't take time for is characterization, which the story badly needs. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The movie runs into its deepest trouble with its depiction of Lilly's captors. After years of Hollywood wooden Indians and a more recent run of tribal angels (as in "Dances With Wolves"), movies like "The Last of the Mohicans" have acknowledged the historical truth that Native Americans could be as bloody-minded as their white conquerors. Read full review
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