Searching (2018)

A father hunts social media and the internet for clues to his daughter's disappearance, but has to ask what if she wasn't abducted? What if she simply ran away?We live in a world where our every action, thought and impulse can be broadcast to the world if we chose (or even if we don't). To therefore see a film where that plays into the hands of people on both sides of the criminal spectrum forces the audience to decide as to which side the fence they sit with regard to personal data protection, as well as tackling the effects of catfishing and leading multiple 'fake' lives online.The story circles around the efforts of a recent widower whose daughter isn't returning his calls and appears to have gone missing in an abduction case; however, her social media and banking accounts leads the police to suspect that maybe she ran away. Not content with the version of events, the desperate father follows his own line of enquiry to attempt to uncover what really happened to her.Since we're looking through the online world for the majority of the time, the film has a lot to say on the vindictive nature of a mass online audience with no moral boundaries or sense of individual responsibility. There are the 'Best Dad' memes, the needlessly speculative neighbours who just want their 15 minutes of fame on NBC, the trending 'dad did it' hashtag, the endless "thoughts and prayers", and the flip-flopping of people, through crocodile tears, who now claim to have been best friends his daughter for the sake of 'views' and 'likes'. The way the film is delivered exclusively via laptop screens - from the revelation of a family tragedy via calendar invites to characters' inner thoughts being typed in a text but then deleted - is one of its top strengths and gives it the draw that keeps the audience 100% engaged up to until the final (incredibly satisfying if exposition-heavy) whodunit reveal. It would be wrong, however, to say it was unique or pioneering; let's not forget that 2014's Unfriended did it to a lesser degree than Searching manages.There will be some people who will hate the way it's presented as being on a PC monitor, who won't like the ending twists, who will despise the use of social media as a plot device. I think they're wrong; it's deeply refreshing to see something new, vibrant and different done so well for a change.Best Quote: "It is the police's job - not yours - to act on flakes of evidence."

Watched the film today and I must say I was extremely surprised with how much I enjoyed this film. Not your typical thriller! A must watch.

This film was utter dross. I saw this as a preview screening perk perk with my unlimited cinema package. I left the cinema after 40 minutes. If watching someone have text chats, with all the drama of pondering whether to use an exclamation mark or a full stop, (yes, that happens), and look things up on a laptop is your thing, then this is the movie for you. Garbage. Worst film I've (part) seen this year and the first one I've abandoned in ages. I couldn't care less what happened to his daughter, and I couldn't bear any more of the slow paced internet searching.

Lost patience after 40 minutes and walked out of the cinema. Whoever thought that making a film in this way,namely by showing a computer monitor as a man searches Google and Facebook and iPhone facetime, for the entire film, is completely nuts. Very irritating to watch. It might have been good if it had been made in a normal fashion. I went to see it on a monthly subscription to the local cinema, if I had bought a ticket to see this garbage I would have asked for a refund.