The Vanishing's reviews
Media reviews
Vulture
The movie is phenomenally well made and the three actors who fall apart on our watch suffer magnificently.
The Hollywood Reporter
Boasting excellent performances by screen veterans Peter Mullan and Gerard Butler, the latter delivering one of his best turns in years, The Vanishing feels familiar in most ways, including its title (the same as George Sluizer's classic Dutch thriller and its mediocre American remake). Nonetheless, the film proves highly effective with its slowly ratcheted up tension and eerie atmospherics.
New York Times
While Jorgen Johansson?s windswept photography creates a credible sense of isolation (he filmed in part at the Mull of Galloway lighthouse), we sense the ominous rhythms of impending calamity.
Los Angeles Times
Mullan brings edginess and gravitas to the kind of role he?s played dozens of times. Butler, though, is a pleasant surprise, departing from his usual one-dimensional action heroes to play a dramatic part ? and so well that one wonders why he doesn?t do it more often.
The Guardian
It?s a very powerfully performed, intimate piece, perhaps inspired at some level by the classic adventure The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Mullan is very good at suggesting the careworn wisdom of someone who has to be a father figure, or even grandfather figure to men who don?t have his skill in self-control and self-denial.
Variety
Falling between the stools of thriller and drama, this speculative tale grows steadily less satisfying, despite a handsome look and a strong cast.