Plot logic disappears from this disappointing thriller
Vanished Into The Night, a new Italian thriller streaming on Netflix, tells the story of Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio) and his estranged wife Elena (Annabelle Wallis) and how their lives are turned upside down when they discover their children have gone missing.
Judging from the image above, you might assume Pietro and Elena work together to find their kids, beginning with a nighttime walk into the countryside armed with flashlights.
But nothing could be further from the truth, which is ironic really, considering nothing is what it seems in this mediocre movie.
Vanished Into The Night begins with an uplifting scene of Pietro, Elena, and their two children Giovanni and Bianca enjoying time together on a boat somewhere in the ocean. They appear to be happy but as we discover in a scene intercut with this one, the couple’s relationship is breaking down.
We don’t know much about their marriage or how it ends in their separation but it’s possible Pietro’s gambling past tore a wedge between them. Regardless, the two are reunited when the kids vanish from Pietro’s home.
It’s flashlights at the ready, right? Erm…no! As we mentioned, the above image is a lie. There are no scenes of Pietro and Elena running through fields and narrowly avoiding sheep poop as they search frantically for their children. Instead, we get scenes of Pietro heading to Greece on a drug smuggling run to raise the money he needs to rescue the youngsters from somebody who has called him up asking for ransom money.
These scenes make up a big chunk of the movie but they end up being a waste of time, for both Pietro and the viewer. When he gets back from Greece, which turned out to be a traumatic trip because of a run-in with some lowlifes and engine failure on his boat, he discovers something rather surprising.
We aren’t going to reveal more about his discovery here, but when you find out, you’ll wonder why the person who wrote this film devoted so much time to the previous scenes that ultimately amount to very little.
Vanished Into The Night has good performances from its main cast but the screenplay is severely lacking. It’s loaded with red herrings and ridiculous plot turns that will likely cause you frustration. The final scene is particularly annoying as it leaves us on a cliffhanger. We refer to this in our Ending Explained article so click on the link at the bottom of this review if you want our take on the movie’s abstract conclusion.
There are a couple of decent moments in the film, including a race-against-the-clock sequence in which Pietro races back home, by car and by foot, narrowly avoiding catastrophe on his journey. These scenes are relatively exciting, made more so by the propulsive music score that is one of the few highlights of the film.
But for the most part, this is a slowly-paced thriller that aims to surprise the viewer but which will likely make them groan once they discover the plot twist. It’s the kind of twist that will make you feel cheated, which is quite apt, considering that’s how Pietro feels when he realizes the truth behind his children’s disappearance.
In short, Vanished Into The Night is not that good a movie. What should have been a nail-biting thrill ride about two warring parents joining forces to save their kids turns out to be something far less interesting.
So, don’t come to the movie expecting something suspenseful or halfway logical. And don’t believe the cover art for this Netflix misfire either. This is a film that is built on lies, both in terms of the plotting and in the way in which the film has been presented to us.
Read More: Vanished Into The Night Ending Explained
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Verdict - 4.5/10
4.5/10