Brief Story Line
June (Storm Reid - A Wrinkle in Time, Euphoria TV series etc) was having fun during the weekend when her mother Grace (Nia Long - Look Both Ways, Third Watch TV series etc) went for a weekend getaway with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung - Old, Industry TV series etc) in Colombia. However, on the day they were supposed to return to Los Angeles, Grace and Kevin never came.
Feeling worried, June sought the help from a Colombian freelance worker named Javier (Joaquim de Almeida - 24 TV series, The Hitman's Bodyguard etc) to find more information on their whereabouts. She also reported the case to FBI, with agent Elijah Park (Daniel Henney - The Wheel of Time TV series, X-Men Origins: Wolverine etc) leading the investigation.
So what actually happened to Grace and Kevin? And how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
I was interested in seeing this movie as it was the standalone sequel to the 2018 movie Searching that I truly loved and admired. And just like the original, this one also had the same attributes such as the mystery of the missing people (though this time it was the parent instead of the child) and how everything was shown through the eyes of video, camera, handphone, laptop and various applications. That's why I also enjoyed this movie a lot as it managed to captivate me the whole time. It was so engaging that even my wife was fully concentrated in seeing this one and audience were in awe with it as well.
This film basically showed us how we could find almost anything using the internet and even to find people on the other side of the world to help us in doing odd jobs. It also opened our eyes on how information we put in social media could be used by anyone to seek personal and private information (this time it was shown for good purpose, but same method could be used for bad intention too). What amazed me was how simple they were shown that I believe it could be done by anyone with proper knowledge and intelligence.
The cast did wonderful job in here, from Storm Reid whose worry seemed genuine, to Nia Long as the mother who loved her daughter so much. The voice acting were amazing too, like the calming voice of FBI agent Park (who my wife somehow recognized just by listening to him). Aside from those names I mentioned above, there were also other support characters like June's best friend Veena (Megan Suri - Never Have I Ever TV series etc), Grace's lawyer friend Heather (Amy Landecker - Project Power, The Hunter's Prayer etc) and June's father (Tim Griffin - Wayward Pines TV series etc). They all contributed to the awesome story telling.
This standalone sequel as it featured a completely different characters was directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson in their directorial debut. They were the editors for Searching and hence made them uniquely qualified to continue directing, meanwhile Aneesh Chaganty the previous director was one of the producers. Btw, I read that aside from sharing the same universe with the original film (you could see from the fictional Netflix documentary series shown in here), it also had connection with the thriller movie Run. Sadly I fail to find the reference till I read in more details (I don't think I would be able to notice as it was done so subtly).
For a movie that has duration of 111 minutes, it really did not feel very long as our eyes were glued to the screen. This kind of film did not really require very good sound system as it did not rely on action. Which is why it only has a small budget and its box office success should be enough to make it profitable, hopefully to warrant a third movie. However, as much as I enjoyed this film with its twist and turn, I felt that the dramatic moment was not as deep as its predecessor, although it still could affect my wife emotionally. And that particular twist was not too shocking either as I had my suspicion, even if it was a bit late, while my wife already had a feeling way earlier.
So if you like Searching, then you would surely like this movie too, just like my wife and I who were truly entertained. And for those who have not seen the original, you could still understand this film easily as it did not have a direct link in term of story. It is currently playing in all major Indonesia cinema chains, so you should be able to search for the perfect location and time to see it at your own convenience.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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