What a breath of fresh air. I don't mean the literal air on these desolate island but a movie without an intrusive soundtrack or where the producers have made sure every scene is fully explained to a dumb audience. A stark production from a director moving up from TV for the first time and showing talent in the way that Spielberg did with Duel. Strong acting from a small bunch of blokes in a claustrophobic environment.

Really enjoyed this one. Fantastic acting across the board. Really great suspense, choice of music, everything was perfect. I really felt like I was on this lonely island in the middle of the raging ocean with the 3 characters, fighting against the unknown. Was a great experience overall and I rate it 10/10 when wheighing it against the usual trash full of senseless violence and bloodshed; this one contains some of that for sure - but there is a great story to go side by side.

Im not sure why alot of people are rating it so low. It starts off a little slow but from the time they find the guy at the bottom of the cliff, you know now it's all going to kick off. Tense and gripping from that moment on I really enjoyed the movie and the ripple effect of every action there after makes. It's a good movie.

I get that this is a low budget Scottish film, but you would think at least just one of the 22 producers in this film would have complained about the plot-issue filled writing before rolling the cameras, and fine tuned the screenplay and final cut. Actors turned first-time full length film writers Joe Bone and Celyn Jones had a great conceptual story to write a screenplay with, but they failed with the many plot issues, unanswered questions (Mercury?), unnecessary scenes and dialogue, long length, and slow pacing. Some scenes were either too long or short, too choppy or too fast. Where this film deserves praise is Kristoffer Nyholm's directing in his first ever full length feature film. Camera angles, close-ups/distant shots and directing his cast were all on point. Next praise goes to the outstanding score, which set the suspense and tension perfectly, and to the stunning setting visuals. Then there were the decent performances by all cast, especially Gerard Butler, but I did have difficulty in many scenes understanding what they were saying (accent perhaps). It's a shame such simple issues (e.g. hire a seasoned screenwriter to build on the story) weren't addressed, as I feel this film would have been near perfect. Nevertheless, still enjoyable and a well deserved 7/10 from me.

The movie is a tragedy, an imaginary tale of what could have happened to the real "keepers" who indeed vanished back in mid december of 1900, and never heard of again. The truth is that nobody knows for sure what was the fate of the real three men at the Flannan Isle, and anybody's guess is as good. Theories abound about what really happened, from alien abduction to a giant wave, and anything in between. Was it a terrible natural accident, such as the three men falling down a cliff or down inside a cave? Or something more sinister as the men kill each other? Your guess is as good as mine. In the real diary entry logged by the real keepers, they write about a terrible weather "as the one they have never seen in 20 years at sea." That particular entry in the book is extraordinary, having in consideration that weather reports at the time indicated that weather was fine and calmed and the first rain can in on december 17, 1900. That is baffling to say the least. Will we ever know what happened to those 3 scotish men, thomas, donald and james? sadly, most probably not, which is so sad, especially because they had wives and children. About the movie itself, i'd say its pretty good. i give it a 6. acting is excellent from the three main actors, as well as from the supporting characters. all did a good work, and the director set the grim tone right from the beginning. the drama unfold with camera close to the faces of the actors to emphasis the tragedy going on, no images from the beauty of the ocean and a blue scotish sky don't expect to see that. all is sad from the very beginning and the only laughs occurred when donald and james found gold in the chest. other than that, all is grey. i'd recommend the movie to anyone who likes thrillers and tragedies on film. no special effects just plain good old fashioned acting (good actually) and an ending kind of predictable, still enjoyable (again if you like tragedies).

Great to see Gerard Butler showing his true potential again opposite Peter Mullen, definitely a slow burner to start and doesn't really pick up but it suits the story and characters throughout. As the story moves along I found myself wanting it to speed up which gives it credibility as I wanted to know the outcome. Definitely worth a watch and not to be missed as some great performances by the three central characters.

This film was so slow it was painful to watch I actually set the movie on 2X speed and it seemed better. I was really looking forward to watching this with Gerald Butler (who actually acted well) and lovely scenery which is the reason I give two stars. But the movie itself was poor. The idea was good and had lots of promise but it just dragged along and seemed to give up with no clear ending... actually the ending was terrible Just shows you cannot go off peoples opinions. How it got 6 stars is beyond me

I watched The Vanishing because: It's a period piece I love lighthouses Scotland is gorgeous Lighthouses are even better on an island. I got all of these, of course, in a classic tale that owes to authors such as Stevenson or Leroux. A pretty good story indeed. Great cast. Including a very credible Scotsman played by that Greek actor, the one from Sparta.

The story is epic although the crew is limited in no. but the story helped it to stay in the track of excitement. the actors are really good , and gerard butler forgot the gods of egypt and remember his self as an actor and did it right for sake of god. the movie is great , epic and dramatic.

The director of "Taboo", a very intriguing premise, good mix of genres, pretty high metascore & Gerrard Butler - of course I had to watch this! Was I disappointed? Certainly. Mild spoilers ahead. It's an interesting story, one of those spooky historic little mysteries, that's behind the plot of this movie - it helds a hell of a lot more potential that this movie brought to the screen. The script is one the biggest flaws here, the pacing's next. There's a lot of long scenes centered around pieces of boring dialogues with little substance, but at the same time it feels like the filmmakers are extremely proud of their character writing, which they definitely shouldn't be. The story is interesting for about half of the movie, until the point when draggy pacing & unimpactful plot points just start to frustrate You. So those are the flaws, the biggest, anyways. Acting seems to be mostly on level, but, even though I feel like I can never rightly critisize actors performances, I have to say that Gerrard Butlers portrayal of a lighthouse keeper gone mad was pretty damn stale. Cinematography feels kinda shy, the beautiful setting is not used that much, for budgetary reasons, I imagine. "The vanishing" could've used a bit more violence as well, but there is a single pretty good little action scene. While the filmmakers seemingly tried really hard to create the grim, bleak atmosphere that's supposed to be there, they succeeded maybe halfway. It just doesn't get there really. Overall I would call this an underwhelming experience that leaves the viewer slightly angry because he knows it could've been better. My rating: 5/10.