Vanished Into The Night (2024) | Film Review
Release Date: July 11, 2024
Distributed By: Netflix
Director(s): Renato De Maria
Writer(s): Luca Infascelli, Francesca Marciano
Cast: Ricardo Scamarcio, Annabelle Wallis
Lately it seems like thrillers have a tendency to introduce twists that feel forced. Thrillers don't necessarily need twists, they just need to keep the viewer at the edge of their seat, introducing stress and sequences in quick succession that leave you little time to wonder what will happen next because whatever's next has already come. You're there with the protagonist, running, acting instinctively. However, these stories have become almost reliant on the twist in order to keep something already incredibly banal from becoming outright boring. The twist will act as the saving grace, the talking point.
Vanished Into The Night had a basic premise of a divorced pair having lost their children in the late hours of the day when they were staying over with their father while the mother was on a plane leaving the country (played by Ricardo Scarmacio and Annabelle Wallis respectively). Unsure about what has happened when Pietro (Scarmacio) had just checked on them and the next instant they seem to have vanished, he immediately phones Elena (Wallis) to tell her of the grim news. After this, Pietro goes on a mostly solo mission of recovering them after he has an idea of what has happened due to an altercation occuring in the beginning of the film where he clearly is in debt and owes some seemingly powerful people some money. With a ransom notice on a phone call and a hard deadline in place, he finds himself asking a once close friend who's well-off for help gathering the cash. While he's not exactly reluctant to do so, he offers a "basic" exchange of Pietro doing a job for him that he'll then give the money for upon completion. After an agreement, he sets off.
The whole exchange between Scarmacio and Wallis throughout the whole film feels soulless and unconvincing. They have very little chemistry (even with the divorced context) and it's, quite frankly, troublesome as a plot point. It's such an on-the-nose narrative that there's very little reward or excitement throughout. The direction is also piss poor and you can tell the actors were just working with what they had (which was nothing).
As things unfold, it all feels like it's ultimately senseless, and there are just too many plot holes and red herrings introduced that make it all feel jumbled, even with such a linear and textbook approach. For example, when Pietro is threatened, he owns €250,000. Upon completion of the job he's tasked to do and per the ransom, he acquires €150,000. When the dust is settled, he calls them saying "I have your money to pay you off now" despite being €100K off. Maybe there's a forgiveness discount, who the fuck knows. There is more but it goes into spoiler territory though it goes without saying that it's so dumb that even if you're not paying attention you'll still find yourself going "wait a second, that doesn't add up."
Vanished Into the Night is a decent premise with good actors that were crippled by poor direction, a mundane script, extremely poor editing, and a production crew that simply didn't care. Someone also really was obsessed with Scarmacio's eyes because—Lord have mercy—almost every shot in the movie was a close-up.
