(2026) Vanishing Point - A Pretty Well Written Crime Thriller Mystery Drama Movie Based on Popular Novel

While my wife and I were on overseas holiday trip, we were unable to see any movies in the cinemas and my options were limited to watching on streaming services. This movie that was released on Netflix few days ago was something that interest me, though I only got the chance to put in writing today after our return. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

The movie focus on three group of people with their own experience that were somehow intertwined. Yan Wu (Roy Chiu - Dear Ex, Detective Chinatown TV series etc) was an addicted gambler living only with his elderly father and having financial trouble to pay his debts. They rented an apartment unit from a young woman named Lin Yutong (Liu Haocun - Ride On, The Seven Relics of Ill Omen TV series etc) who suffered from traumatic experience few months before and heavily protected by her older brother Doctor Lin Wenzhao (Li Chen - The Battle of Lake Chiangjin, Beijing Love Story TV series etc).

During the morning of winter solstice, Tang Yu (Zheng Kai - Ex-Files movies, Persona TV series etc) and his wife A Yu (Jiang Yan - Always on the Move TV series, The Hidden Fox etc) who lived in the same apartment building were shocked when their young child was missing. Tang Yu's first thought was to search his son in the unit where a close friend & neighbour Ying Ying (Feng Xue Ya) lived with his father Xu Zhijie (Feng Bing - Joy of Life season 2, Anima etc), though he was nowhere to be found.

So what happened to the missing child and how was it connected with what happened to Yan Wu and Lin Yutong? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

To be honest, I was a little bit doubtful at first to give this a try because of its long duration (140 minutes). But I was happy that I decided to watch it cause I thought this was very good. The movie started with the usual aftermath scene to give us hint of what was to come (probably to keep audience interested cause this kind of film tend to be slow burn and some audience might be bored if they do not know what to expect). And the dark colors in most of the scenes gave us exactly the kind of gloom and chilling feel while watching this. 

Anyway for this kind of movie, I would normally try to guess from the hints shown on the mystery. However the film makers were pretty intelligent in keeping the real truth till the last half hour where I was finally able to deduce everything (though it was kind of late as by that time, I am sure that anybody who was watching would have come to the same conclusion). In this part, I think the writer & director Cheng Wei Hao (The Soul, Marry My Dead Body etc) had done great job. His story telling was pretty good with one major thing revealed towards the end that should give clear understanding on the time line (which I suspected earlier). 

From what I read, the movie was adapted from novel titled Han Kui by Bei Kebang which had previously been made into TV series titled The Disappering Child in 2022 and was well received. This movie itself was a commercial success, becoming the biggest hit during China's May Day holiday. So it was good that Netflix acquired its distribution right and I have the chance to watch this from anywhere. I noticed that it was quite popular and still inside the Top 10 movies here.

The cast did well in their roles, particularly Roy Chiu and I also liked the performance of young Feng Xue Ya in what I believe to be her first major role. Most of the cast here were unfamiliar to me except for Liu Haocun whom I have seen few times before. In addition to the above names, there were also support cast such as Bi Wen Jun (I Am Nobody TV series, Be My Friend etc) as Yutong's colleague A Jun, Huang Xiao Lei (Yiran's Silver Lining TV series, Give You A Candy etc) and Zhe Tang (The First Frost TV series, Keep Rolling etc) as police officers Fang and Hui respectively with few others in minor roles.  

In the end, this was a pretty well made crime thriller movie. The mystery was well kept till quite long and the revealing was done nicely. The pace was not fast but not too slow that would make us lose interest. And though the duration might seem long (there was no mid or post end credit scene), but I thought it was necessary to show everything including that heartwarming ending. Now I never watched the series myself but looking at the good comments, I might be tempted to give it a try sometime in the future (it is available via another online streaming service). So if you are in the mood for dark, mystery thriller drama movie based on popular novel with a good reveal, then you could give it a try. Just reminder that you need to give full concentration for > 2 hours to properly enjoy this one.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars