Untraceable
Synopsis :
The story of a technology-savvy serial killer who displays his graphic murders on his own website. The FBI Internet Crimes division must work quickly to track him down.
Reviews :
The Internet has become a major force in the lives of anyone who uses it. Although the net includes assets beyond measure, there are negative aspects as well – such as kids becoming victims on personal space pages, identity fraud and spam. That playing field provides the arena for the thriller "Untraceable," about a website where viewers watch someone get killed as it's actually happening.
Diane Lane plays Jennifer Marsh, an FBI agent and widow who lost her husband, also an agent, on the job. Jennifer lives in Portland, Oregon, with her mother (Mary Beth Hurt) and young daughter (Perla Haney-Jardine). She also works there at night in the Bureau's unit responsible for investigating and prosecuting cyber crime.
When Jennifer stumbles on a website where a baby kitten gets killed, she's alarmed. What disturbs her even more is that the webmaster has set the site to meter hits, and the faster the internet users log on, the faster the kitten dies.
Savvy enough to realize this will not be a one time thing, Jennifer alerts her boss (Peter Lewis) and agent Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks). Sure enough the site goes up again, this time with a man in another contraption in which he will die a torturous death.
Griffin starts the task of tracing the site but mumbles one excuse after another about it being registered in another country and "untraceable." Soon the news media is alerted, and everyone watches as a man burns alive. The warning that anyone who logs on to the site is a conspirator to crime, goes unheeded and the hits continue to climb faster and faster after each killing. Things only go downhill and get more gruesome from this point on.
Diane Lane ("Unfaithful") is a wonderful actress, and Billy Burke ("Feast of Love") as Portland Police Detective Eric Box, is no slouch either. Colin Hanks (Tom Hank's son) is commendable as Griffin. Although I don't want to giveaway the actor who portrays the site perpetrator, I will say that while he looks like a looney who might attempt this feat, his voice is too passive when calling Jennifer to antagonize her. He never feels like a threat.
Unfortunately, none of these actor's performances can overcome the film's clichéd thriller elements, conspicuous missteps, and its focus on the familiar theme of a token single mother who must protect her daughter, plus its obvious assumption that Jennifer will herself end up a victim.
Several movies have tackled the subject of the Internet, and as it becomes more a part of our daily lives, it is rich fodder for ideas. Screenwriters Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker and Allison Burnett lack the experience to pen a thriller with twists that leave viewers in awe. Instead, we see plot-holes – which occur many times here – and think "that wouldn't happen or she wouldn't do that."
Even director Gregory Hoblit, who helmed "Fracture," an excellent example of a tight thriller with unexpected twists, couldn't transform "Untraceable" from a mediocre horror movie into a compelling thriller. "Fracture" was a cat and mouse game and a race against the clock to track down a criminal mastermind. That line is actually the tagline for "Untraceable," and while it might have been the original intention, the thriller aspect gets diluted when the focus stays on the gruesome bodies for long shots as the victims bleed, burn, or have their skin peeled off in acid.
If you're looking for great suspense or an edge-of-your-seat thriller, check out "Fracture" and forget "Untraceable."
Diane Lane plays Jennifer Marsh, an FBI agent and widow who lost her husband, also an agent, on the job. Jennifer lives in Portland, Oregon, with her mother (Mary Beth Hurt) and young daughter (Perla Haney-Jardine). She also works there at night in the Bureau's unit responsible for investigating and prosecuting cyber crime.
When Jennifer stumbles on a website where a baby kitten gets killed, she's alarmed. What disturbs her even more is that the webmaster has set the site to meter hits, and the faster the internet users log on, the faster the kitten dies.
Savvy enough to realize this will not be a one time thing, Jennifer alerts her boss (Peter Lewis) and agent Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks). Sure enough the site goes up again, this time with a man in another contraption in which he will die a torturous death.
Griffin starts the task of tracing the site but mumbles one excuse after another about it being registered in another country and "untraceable." Soon the news media is alerted, and everyone watches as a man burns alive. The warning that anyone who logs on to the site is a conspirator to crime, goes unheeded and the hits continue to climb faster and faster after each killing. Things only go downhill and get more gruesome from this point on.
Diane Lane ("Unfaithful") is a wonderful actress, and Billy Burke ("Feast of Love") as Portland Police Detective Eric Box, is no slouch either. Colin Hanks (Tom Hank's son) is commendable as Griffin. Although I don't want to giveaway the actor who portrays the site perpetrator, I will say that while he looks like a looney who might attempt this feat, his voice is too passive when calling Jennifer to antagonize her. He never feels like a threat.
Unfortunately, none of these actor's performances can overcome the film's clichéd thriller elements, conspicuous missteps, and its focus on the familiar theme of a token single mother who must protect her daughter, plus its obvious assumption that Jennifer will herself end up a victim.
Several movies have tackled the subject of the Internet, and as it becomes more a part of our daily lives, it is rich fodder for ideas. Screenwriters Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker and Allison Burnett lack the experience to pen a thriller with twists that leave viewers in awe. Instead, we see plot-holes – which occur many times here – and think "that wouldn't happen or she wouldn't do that."
Even director Gregory Hoblit, who helmed "Fracture," an excellent example of a tight thriller with unexpected twists, couldn't transform "Untraceable" from a mediocre horror movie into a compelling thriller. "Fracture" was a cat and mouse game and a race against the clock to track down a criminal mastermind. That line is actually the tagline for "Untraceable," and while it might have been the original intention, the thriller aspect gets diluted when the focus stays on the gruesome bodies for long shots as the victims bleed, burn, or have their skin peeled off in acid.
If you're looking for great suspense or an edge-of-your-seat thriller, check out "Fracture" and forget "Untraceable."
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