Ron Howard has come a long way since the days of Opie and Richie. He's now an A-list director with numerous, outstanding efforts under his belt including Cocoon, Parenthood, Apollo 13, and the award winning A Beautiful Mind. The film maker returns with his first attempt at a western with a picture called The Missing.

The Missing features Cate Blanchett as Maggie, an independent woman struggling to take care of her children and land during the late 1800's. Her life is turned upside down when her oldest daughter Lily (a splendid Evan Rachel Wood) goes, you guessed it, MISSING! With no one to turn too, Maggie reaches out to her estranged father Samuel (played by a scruffy Tommy Lee Jones). Together, they set out to find Lily while, at the same time, trying to salve old wounds.

The trailers to The Missing would have you believe that there's an incredible sense of intrigue and mystery to this story. Actually, they've embellished quite a bit. We are well aware of what has become of Maggie's daughter within the first act of this movie and that was one of the things that really bothered me about it. The complete absence of mystery. Once the cat is out of the bag any intrigue the trailers suggests is what turns up missing.

As good as Blanchett and Jones are, we've seen the estranged father and daughter routine before, and much more effectively. Their scenario becomes quite tiresome, so much in fact, that at a certain point in the film, Howard resorts to Indian mysticism to punch the film up. To me, it became quite silly. Meanwhile, Lily's ordeal should be devastating but it's just too drawn out to be effective.

Howard cuts from Samuel and Maggie, to Wood and her situation, and while both portions of the picture are well balanced, they become less and less interesting as the movie progresses.

Blanchett is fiery and strong as Maggie, a woman who's learned to do things for herself. Jones is sympathetic and rather eccentric as a father trying to set things right. You might think it odd that Jones was cast as an Apache, but there is an explanation for this in the film and he's quite strong in the role. Wood continues to shine as one of the most vibrant, young talents around, and while this role isn't as deep as the one she had in Thirteen, she's very effective here. The best performance in The Missing comes in the form of Eric Schweig. He's creepily effective as a renegade Indian with absolute hatred towards the white man. There are moments in this picture where he is downright terrifying.

Sadly, I didn't find the writing here all that interesting, and surprisingly, even the talented Howard is unable to breathe any kind of life into the material. The movie is well acted and beautiful to look at, but that's about it. As was the case with Ransom, Ron Howard and his crew reveal their secrets to early, taking away the element of surprise. Perhaps if we didn't know what happened to the daughter until later on in the story. That might have added weight to The Missing. Instead, this western lumbers along, outstaying it's welcome. Howard is still one of my favorites, but this was not one of his better efforts.