Vanished 2016

Two half-brothers, Jack and Max, drive through Los Angeles in a tense mood, arguing about Jack’s ex-girlfriend Jasmine who has called to retrieve his belongings from her home. Max insists Jasmine never truly loved Jack and is fixated on her dead boyfriend, who died in a carjacking. Their plans take a brutal turn when they arrive at a luxurious mansion, don masks, draw pistols, and abduct Emma, who fights back against the sudden assault. As Emma puts up a stubborn resistance, Max shoots a curious neighbor who wanders over to investigate, a moment that pushes Jack toward a deeper hesitation about using violence.

Emma wakes to the real danger when Shane—the third conspirator who is initially unmasked—is revealed. The group’s cover quickly comes apart when Shane calls out Max’s real name, causing the others to drop their disguises in frustration. They force Emma to record a ransom demand for her supposedly wealthy father, who Emma explains she has not spoken to in years. Emma’s cool, cool assessment of the situation only fuels her captors’ belief that they’re dealing with amateurs. She warns that her father may not pay, but when he calls back, Jack threatens Emma with death if they don’t meet his demand, a threat that sows further distrust and fear.

The quartet relocates to a motel where Emma is stashed away while the men split up for their own purposes. In the shadows, Mexican cartel hitmen arrive and begin tracing the van, recognizing the owner’s name as a possible clue to a past hit. Jack surprises the cartel men, killing one and interrogating the other. He learns that they tracked the kidnappers via Emma’s cell phone and that Carlos, Emma’s father and a powerful cartel boss, intends to stay quiet about any ransom. After eliminating the second hitman, Jack rallies the others and they flee the motel, with Emma cutting through the tension by appealing to Jack’s sense of motive rather than fear alone. Jack reveals a chilling theory: he suspects Carlos killed Emma’s mother and his own father, a claim he supports by showing a ring that Emma confirms belongs to her father. Shane—already anxious about the mission and addicted to heroin—protests, while Max doubles down on following through with the plan.

Before they can reach a planned checkpoint, a police officer pulls them over, and Max murders the officer when he becomes suspicious that the officer is on to them. Shane begins to question Max’s reliability, suicide-by-cop being a dangerous option in his mind. Max further complicates the dynamic by admitting to being the carjacker who killed Jasmine’s former boyfriend, casting his loyalty to the group into doubt and revealing a personal history of violence.

The next stretch of the route brings a new shift: Shane secretly forms a fragile alliance with Emma. Emma, claiming she needs a bathroom break, lures Jack and Max out of the van while Shane surveys the vehicle for a weapon. Max returns just as Shane uncovers a shotgun stored in a lockbox, and a tense exchange ensues. Max taunts Shane about psychopathy, and Shane fires a shot that misses or is unloaded, prompting a furious confrontation. Shane then reveals himself as more dangerous than the others anticipated, stabbing Max and turning the story on its head as he drives off with Emma, who agrees that Jack’s revenge plan is doomed.

Shane’s true instability comes into sharper focus as they move along. He reveals post-traumatic stress and a history of heroin use, and his aggression toward Emma becomes increasingly clear. As the danger escalates, Emma fights back with a power tool she has access to in the vehicle, inflicting wounds on Shane. In response, Shane stabs her, but Emma ultimately defeats him when she kills him after he attacks. Emma commands control of the situation, pushing Shane’s assailant aside and driving toward the checkpoint where she confronts her father.

At the checkpoint, Emma tells her father that she has eliminated all the kidnappers herself, and Carlos finally confesses to killing Jack’s father and Emma’s mother. The truth chills the air as Emma and Jack—who had been lying in wait—join forces to bring down Carlos and his henchmen. The ensuing confrontation ends with Carlos dead and his cartel defeated, but the victory is bittersweet: Jack dies from his own wounds, leaving Emma bloodied but resolute. In the end, Emma drags Jack’s motionless body from the van and drives away, carrying the weight of vengeance, forgiveness, and survival as the road ahead remains uncertain.