In theaters

THE MISSING, directed by Ron Howard, written by Ken Kaufman, 135 minutes, rated R.

In the opening scene of the new Ron Howard Western, “The Missing,” Cate Blanchett, in full period drag, straddles a writhing Mexican woman, holds her down and pulls the last rotten tooth from her head.

It’s 1885 and times are tough in New Mexico, particularly for a beleaguered healer like Blanchett’s Maggie Gilkeson, a single woman raising two daughters with the help of Brake Baldwin (Aaron Eckhart), the scruffy cowpoke she loves, albeit secretly.

Like novelist Willa Cather’s great characte, Antonia, Maggie is a product of the frontier.

She’s bold and spirited, tough and unshrinking. As played by Blanchett, in one of her most rewarding and challenging roles since her breakout performance in “Elizabeth,” Maggie is a force to be reckoned with. This is a good thing since her teenage daughter, Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood), has recently been kidnapped by a band of Apaches determined to sell her and other women into sexual slavery in Mexico.

Reminiscent of John Ford’s 1956 classic, “The Searchers,” in which John Wayne gave one of his best and most memorable performances, “The Missing” conspires to reconnect Maggie with her father, Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones), who abandoned her when she was a child and re-enters her life to make amends.

In spite of the hatred Maggie feels toward him, she soon realizes she has no choice but to seek his help. Indeed, and rather conveniently, Samuel has lived among the Apaches for years. He knows their customs, their language, how they think. And so, along with Maggie’s young daughter, Dot (Jenna Boyd), the three go in search of Lilly, a perilous journey that often proves uncomfortably violent.

The film, which screenwriter Ken Kaufman based on Thomas Eidson’s novel “The Last Ride,” is more claustrophobic than this year’s other Western, “Open Range,” and it never achieves the scenic greatness of the films of Sam Peckinpah, Howard Hawks and Ford. But it does have energy, comedy and passion, rising above the contrivances that drive it because Howard’s heart is in it so completely.

There are moments in this movie that are unshakable, such as the harrowing, beautifully shot scene in which Maggie and Dot escape through the woods on horseback; the look that wavers across Maggie’s face when it occurs to her that she might have forever lost her daughter to the evil Chidin (Eric Schweig); the scores of fiery arrows that hurtle through the air and sink still ablaze into the bellies and necks of unsuspecting horses.

Howard doesn’t hold back in “The Missing,” and neither does his cast. Together, they’re a force, lifting the movie above its unnecessary and wobbly lapses into mysticism and mythmaking with great action and acting.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Jay Wolpert, 134 minutes, rated PG-13.

Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” moves as swiftly as a pirate to the promise of booty.

The film is great fun, one of last summer’s best movies. What it has going for it beyond its terrific special effects is some surprisingly lively writing, a ripping story, a solid cast that clearly came to have a good time (and was encouraged to do so), and a performance by Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow that suggests a drunken gypsy drag queen fallen on hard times.

With his mascara seemingly applied by the heavy hand of Alice Cooper and a beard that’s every bit as wiry as his thin frame, Depp’s Sparrow is a grotesque ornament festooned with more gold teeth than a rap star. He’s wonderful and uninhibited, swaying on and off land as if the ocean is deliriously moving beneath his feet. It’s the sort of inspired, campy performance that says to hell with convention and turns an already good movie into one that can’t be missed.

In the film, Sparrow finds himself in an ugly bit of brine when his boat sinks at port and he hits land in search of a new one.

Unknown to him, the governor’s knockout daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), has recently fallen into the ocean after being asked for her hand in marriage by the stuffy Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport), a man she’d rather not marry as she’d prefer to be with the wily swordsmith, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).

Because of the mysterious, shimmering gold medallion Elizabeth wears around her neck, her ocean plunge causes all sorts of problems. The medallion is actually a crucial component to lifting a curse placed on the swarthy crew of the Black Pearl, a fitfully dead bunch of pirates who need the medallion – along with a certain young man’s blood – to return them to human form.

As led by the salty Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), these swashbuckling zombies, who appear human in daylight but are exposed as rotting corpses in moonlight, are determined to reclaim the medallion the moment they get whiff of it.

With its tight script, light mood and sheer technical aplomb, “Pirates of the Caribbean” fitfully removes another curse. It offers audiences a good pirate picture, something that has seemed increasingly elusive after years of disappointments in “Hook,” “Cutthroat Island,” “Pirates” and last year’s “Treasure Planet.”

That last one sent audiences into outer space, but “Pirates of the Caribbean” sends them to the moon.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights ? D

A Mighty Wind ? B+

Anger Management ? C-

Bend it Like Beckham ? A-

Bringing Down the House ? B

Bruce Almighty ? B+

Down with Love ? C+

Dreamcatcher ? C-

Dumb and Dumberer ? D-

Finding Nemo ? B+

Holes ? B+

Hollywood Homicide ? D-

Hulk ? C-

Identity ? B+

The In-Laws ? C

The Italian Job ? A-

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life ? B

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde ? C+

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ? A-

Man on the Train ? A-

The Matrix Reloaded ? A-

Nowhere in Africa ? A

Owning Mahowny ? B-

Pirates of the Caribbean ? A-

The Quiet American ? A

Real Women Have Curves ? A-

Santa Clause 2 ? C-

Shanghai Knights ? B

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ? B-

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ? B

2 Fast 2 Furious ? C-

28 Days Later ? B+

View from the Top ? C+

Winged Migration ? A

X2-X-Men United ? A-