Summary
The Italian crime thrillerVanished Into the Nightis doing well on Netflix – but is it worth watching or can its not-so-great Rotten Tomatoes score be trusted?Vanished Into the Nightrevolves around a father who’s stuck in the middle of a trying divorce. When his young children go missing from their isolated country home, he embarks on a dangerous quest to find them on the outskirts of Bari, Italy. He has to get in touch with a criminal from his dark past to ensure that his children get home safe.
The movie was directed by Renato De Maria, best known for helmingThe RuthlessandRobbing Mussolini, and Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis leadtheVanished Into the Nightcast. The script was written byThe Miracle’s Francesca Marciano andThe Catholic School’s Luca Infascelli.Vanished Into the Nightis streaming now on Netflix. But while it’s doing well with audiences and holding an impressive rank on the streaming chart, it was met with mixed reviews from critics. Is this thriller worth checking out or is it better to use those 92 minutes for something else?
Vanished Into The Night Has A 40% Score From Critics On Rotten Tomatoes
The Movie’s Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Is 15%
Vanished Into the Nighthas a not-so-impressive critics’ score of 40% onRotten Tomatoes. This is a “rotten” score, indicating more negative reviews than positive ones, but it’s worth noting that it’s based on just five reviews. That meansVanished Into the Nightreceived two positive reviews and three negative reviews. The negative reviews only outweighed the positive reviews by one review, which doesn’t sound too bad. It received positive reviews fromDeciderandReady Steady Cutand negative reviews fromInSession Film,Digital Mafia Talkies, andBut Why Tho? A Geek Community.
The audience score is much harsher; it has just a 15% approval rating from audiences. This indicates that 85% of viewers were dissatisfied with the movie. This score is based on a larger sample size than the critics’ score, but it’s still based on fewer than 50 audience ratings. It’s not a good sign thatVanished Into the Nighthas been panned by both critics and audiences, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not worth watching. There are plenty ofpoorly reviewed movies that are still worth checking out.
Vanished Into The Night’s Reviews Praise Its Entertainment Value, But Criticize Its Crime Thriller Plot
It’s An Entertaining Movie, But It Doesn’t Have Much Substance
The reviews forVanished Into the Night– even the negative ones – have praised it for its entertainment value.It delivers plenty of thrillsas its protagonist embarks on a dark journey into the criminal underworld to retrieve his missing children. A parent’s love is a great engine to get audiences on board with a thriller. FromTakentoMan on Fire, plenty of high-octane thrillers have gotten the audience to root for their hero with the universally resonant story of a parental figure trying to keep their kid safe in a worst-case scenario.
But the crime thriller plot ofVanished Into the Nighthas been criticized for its shallow storytelling and paper-thin characterization. The negative reviews claim thatVanished Into the Nightpales in comparison to most other movies of its kind. This year alone has seen the release ofMonkey Man,Love Lies Bleeding, and evenBeverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which all provided a more satisfying crime thriller storyline thanVanished Into the Night.Vanished Into the Nighthas some excitement along the way, but it’s ultimately an underwhelming movie.
Vanished Into The Night Is Still Worth Watching For Fans Of Popcorn Crime Thrillers
It’s Not A Particularly Great Movie, But It Does Deliver The Goods In Its Genre
While the reviews make it clear thatVanished Into the Nightis not a particularly great movie, it is still worth watching for fans of popcorn thrillers. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel or explore any of its themes in enough depth to be noteworthy, but it does provide the escapist entertainment it sets out to deliver. Not every movie needs to be a transcendent masterpiece that does something brand-new;sometimes, it’s good enough to just deliver the goods in a popular genre.
Audiences who are looking for a 92-minute distraction from the everyday annoyances of life will be pleased with the formulaic, by-the-numbers crime thriller plot ofVanished Into the Night. There is no meaningful foreshadowing or clever twists that makeVanished Into the Nightas rewatchable as the verybest crime thrillers, likeSe7enorThe Silence of the Lambs. But it’s certainly not unwatchable; it’s more than entertaining enough to make a single viewing worthwhile.
Vanished Into the Night
Cast
Elena, an American psychiatrist, moves to Italy for love but faces heartbreak and custody battles. When their children vanish while with their father, Pietro, they receive a ransom demand. Desperation drives them to race against time to save their kids, navigating tension and old wounds along the way.
