The Missing is way out west

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Eric Schweig, Evan Rachel Wood, Jenna Boyd, Val Kilmer

Cert: 18.

Ron Howard has opted to virtually re-make the great John Wayne classic, The Searchers. Or, rather, he has chosen to nick the John Ford masterpiece as the basis for this film. He's been found out.

It's not that it's a bad film in itself, it's just that comparisons with The Searchers won't do it any good.

Here we have Blanchett as a frontier woman and the single mother of two children whose father (TLJ) has a breakdown and goes to live, as you would, with the local Native American tribe. He eventually attempts a reconciliation with his daughter and they team up when one of the children is kidnapped by some evil Apaches.

So far so good-ish. There are excellent moments - particularly between Blanchett and Lee Jones - and the film certainly looks good but there is not enough depth in the script to make it a complete success.

Still, any Western is to be welcome, even one as flawed as this.

Star Rating: 2/5