The Missing (15): Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Eric Schweig,Evan Rachel Wood, Jenna Boyd.

JUST when it looked like the embers of the cowboy campfire were fading from the world of serious cinema, The Missing stokes them up again.

It combines the elements of a good Western (sweeping, incredible scenery, horses, guns) with those of a sharp thriller (tension and a taut plot littered with obstacles).

Cate Blanchett scratches out a horrible existence as Maggie Gilkeson, raising her two young daughters in the bleak Wild West in 1885.

She is angry and unwelcoming when her long-estranged father, Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones), resurfaces.

But he soon becomes essential when renegade Apaches kidnap eldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) in the hope of selling her on as a slave.

Maggie and her dad pursue the kidnappers, with Dad proving particularly useful as he's spent the past years living with Indians.

Tommy Lee Jones' haggard, pitted face shows the strain of a man who has seen too much, while Blanchett is even stronger, at times hard and bitter, at others a vulnerable mum and daughter.

Jenna Boyd gives a fine performance for a ten-year old and Aaron Eckhart is capable as Blanchett's love interest.

Bad guy Schweig delivers some tense scenes, but his character, part-sorcerer and part-warrior, is too cartoonish to be really believable.

This film slows towards the end and it's left to Tommy Lee Jones to carry it to the finish.

The tone often feels wrong, and it works best as a Western that will be appreciated by cowboy saga fans.

Director Ron Howard and writer Ken Kaufman have crafted a well-made and precise story. But despite all the polish, it's still a bit dull.

Mono rating: six out of ten