The Missing tells two stories. Both are stories of reconciliation and both fall far short of beings as powerful as they could be.

The outer story, which provides us with the plot, tells the story of Maggie (Cate Blanchett), a 19th century frontierswoman. Not far into the film, Indians attack her family, killing her man (Aaron Eckhart) and taking away her older daughter Lily (Evan Rachel Wood), to be sold down in Mexico. Maggie petitions for help from her father, Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones), who knows the Indian ways but has a soured relationship with Maggie because he abandoned the family years ago.

Samuel, Maggie and Maggie’s young daughter, Dot (Jenna Boyd), trek across the country, hunting the Indians and doing their best to follow their trail. There are a handful of tense moments, especially as they catch up with the Indians, but for the most part the story is lifeless and unengaging.

The substory involves Samuel’s attempts to obtain the forgiveness of Maggie and rebuild their relationship. Though interesting at times, the conflict is never really resolved and the attempt that the film makes toward some sort of resolution is weak.

The Missing also takes an interesting perspective on religion. While it’s supportive of Christianity, it also takes Indian mythology seriously. Maggie is heavily affected by the Chief Indian’s curse and Samuel’s counter-curse ritual seems to be effective. I’m not sure what it all amounts to though, it feels like its there for no other reason than to add some flavor to the story.

The film is finely made, however, and you can feel the cold air within the crisp pictures of southwestern America under the stars. Ably directed and competently acted, the only thing The Missing is really missing is a quality script.

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