The Vanished Review: It Is Routine Thriller Lifted By Shock Ending

The Vanished(Video On Demand)

Starring Anne Heche,Thomas Jane

Directed  by  Peter Facinelli

Rating: **

 Minutes  after  the film opens I  know it’s in trouble. The  main lead, specially the male  was caught shamelessly overacting .  Ms Heche  is relatively better.

Thomas Jane  and Anne Heche play a middle aged  couple  on a vacation  in  the deserted mountains with their  little  girl Taylor who disappears suddenly.

So,  you wish, would this corny creep show where one by one people die  for no reason except that it is the only way to keep the  pompous plot from  falling apart.

It all begins with  Paul and Wendy singing and doing the  family-time tango with their baby girl.If this was a  Hindi film it would be time for Yaadon  Ki Baaraat.We all know what happens to happy families in movies:  check out Manmohan Desai’s  lost-an-found melodramas.

Once  Taylor disappears, the plot thickens like  an overcooked  soup that’s long gone from tasty to pasty.

The couple’s  anxiety at their daughter’s loss is portrayed in a suspiciously unconvincing  way  .At one point, the  husband sees the couple in  the van  outside making love, and he jumps into bed next to his wife wanting some.

This, hours after their daughter  has disappeared. Have some shame! You want to tell this to the couple  as well as to the  brains behind the team  of this  thriller with no  steam.

Only  the  last 10 minutes help to  bring some respite  to  the  unconvincing  proceedings. By then  it’s  too late,  You  don’t want to  stick  around waiting for  80 minutes for the characters  to  get serious.

Or is that what they were trying to be  all along? We just didn’t notice.