Others say...

"Solid Critique, Pretty Good Film"
It's undeniable that "Untraceable" is a criticism of America's attraction to torture-porn, both in the theatres and (slightly more repulsive) on the Internet. However, this movie has been accused of actually being torture-porn itself, and is more often than not compared to gore-fests such as the Saw series or the awful Eli Roth's Hostel movies. However, in simply watching this movie, viewers will realize that those specific criticisms are unfounded. "Untraceable" walks a fine line, because it does have to show graphic violence in order to get the message across that graphic violence and seeing people murdered are the sole reason people tune in to these kinds of flicks. There was only one instance where I thought that a violent scene was unnecessary to the movie's message, and that was when they showed a close-up of a man who'd already been killed, so that viewers can get a good look at his fleshless hand. That bit was too much, but other than that, this film successfully avoids becoming that which it condemns, and paints a successful picture of the mind state of those who engage in watching such movies.

Now that I've talked about how it executes the message, let's see how it works as a film. It's no Oscar-winner, nor could it ever be a personal favorite of mine, but I enjoyed it considerably more than I thought I would. It's well directed with surprisingly sophisticated use of color (or lack thereof) that really gave a disturbing mood to the movie. The acting, like the script, was fair, but nothing really jumped out at me, except the performances of both the lead cybercop (played by Diane Lane) and the villain in the climax.

Overall, it's a decent film that has a solid and relevant message. The ending--as in the final scene--is abrupt, a bit cheesy, and sort of hard to swallow, but it's so quick that it doesn't mess up what the movie, as a whole, does. Don't listen to unfounded accusations that this is torture-porn--as the most passionate critic of the horrid genre I've met, I'd know if it was--because what it really is best likened to is a particularly good episode of "Law and Order."

6/10

"Reveals Workings of Computer Forensics Unit"
Some rather grisly, elaborate murders are shown being committed on-line in this movie. People's deaths are rigged to progress according to how many people log on to view the carnage. Part of the killer's motive is to hold a mirror up to humankind - to show how base our curiosity can be - how our voyeuristic, prurient interest in other's suffering can have real consequences.

One suspects that this movie itself might be an example of pandering to our morbid fascinations - its storyline just an excuse to show torture. Nevertheless, there are elements in this movie that lift it above mere exploitation.

The producers/directors of "Untraceable" researched the largely secret operations of the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division, a unit charged with tracking on-line predators and other criminals. The Director Commentary on this DVD is especially interesting for its discussions of how the cast and crew worked to make the movie as authentic as possible and to recreate the atmosphere of the Unit's tracking rooms. They even lucked out when they decided to film in Portland, then found that City was actually headquarters for this Crimes Division. So the filmmakers had easy access to the FBI officers as consultants for the movie.

As a result, a lot of insider computer lingo gets tossed around in the early part of the movie. Diane Lane's character rattles off references to proxy servers, spoof phone cards, ISP hand-offs and blockers. I wished they would have slowed down a little and found a way to explain some of these methods that cyber criminals have of dodging attempts at tracking them. That would have made the movie truly educational and would have supplied further justification for watching the more gruesome parts of the film.

The writing and acting here are generally fairly good - with a few glaring exceptions. After witnessing one of her co-workers die a painful death on-line, the script has Lane mutter with profound understatement, "I'm not good at losing people."

However, Lane is well-cast as an official in the Division. She was the ideal actor to play a woman now casually accepted in a position of authority, without having to be a gussied, beholden sex object in the process. It would have been nice if the older generation had been granted similar status.

That was not to be though. The woman who plays Lane's mother in the film is reduced to the role of silent baby-sitter/servant in the household. Given only a couple of lines to speak and a ludicrous Groucho Marx get-up of thick eyeglasses and bushy pageboy haircut - this older woman comes off almost as someone who is so embarrassing by virtue of her over-50 age, she has to present herself in disguise. Well, if younger women such as Lane can now be cast as realistically functioning law enforcement officers, perhaps older women will also be liberated into realistic on-screen positions of authority one day soon.

These quibbles aside though, the movie is somewhat worthwhile. It opens up a window onto the little understood world of cyber crime and the people who are on the job, daily trying to stanch its deadening, deadly tide.


"Uneven Thriller"
Untraceable is a thriller that is heavily influenced, for both good and bad, by the Saw film series. As in Saw, the killer uses ingenious and diabolical traps to kill his victims. The victims actually are given a chance to survive although remote. The twist here is that the killer is broadcasting his murders on the internet over a site called killwithme.com. The more visitors that log onto the site, the faster the person is killed. As an example, one victim is surrounded by dozens of heat lamps. As the site traffic increases, more heat lamps are turned on, eventually baking the unfortunate man alive.

On his trail is FBI agent Jennifer Marsh (Lane), a member of the cyber crimes unit. Her days are normally spent tracking down online predators, scam artists, and identity thieves but this is something she's never encountered before. This killer may be psychotic but he's also brilliant. Every attempt to track him down results in a bogus IP address being tossed out. Jennifer is joined in the hunt by Portland, Oregon detective Eric Box (Burke). Both of them can only watch helplessly as the killer flaunts his murders to law enforcement as millions of people visit the site. The cat and mouse game soon turns deadly as the killer sets his sights on the agents who are tracking him down including Jennifer and her family.

Diane Lane was perfect in her role. As an older actress she is still very attractive yet she's not a starlet type who would not be convincing as an FBI agent. She's strong but vulnerable. She's clever but the smartest person in the room. Most of the other performances were ordinary but Lane truly stood out. I was happy the writers did not take the sappy avenue and develop an emotional relationship between Marsh and Detective Box. This is usually an unneeded plot contrivance and thankfully it was avoided in Untraceable.

The film does suffer from one of the same weaknesses of the Saw films in that the killer is too smart and too resourceful. I always wondered how Jigsaw had the money to build all of those elaborate traps and obtain all of those empty buildings so he could kill in seclusion. I'm not a computer expert but I found the killers ability to avoid detection, particularly by the FBI, and then infiltrate the home PC of Marsh, to border on the highly implausible. As smart as the killer was he ended up making the dumb mistake of changing his modus operandi by going after the FBI agents. It simply doesn't fit with the motives of the other murders.

Untraceable is a good thriller that could have been exceptional with a bit of tinkering. It pushes the notion of how much our society has degraded as the site visitors KNOW they are helping to hasten the person's death and yet they keep coming back even after repeated warnings. The killer ends up stepping on his own feet and gets caught without any actual effort by the FBI. It's definitely worth a view for Lane's strong performance.


"Horrible"
This item did not play well; it played like a bootleg dvd. I had to ask the seller for a refund. She responded quickly, and I was refunded in a matter of days. That is the only up-side to this transaction!

"Where's Hannibal?"
One of the raves of this film was something along the lines of " 'Silence of the Lambs' for the internet generation".

PUH-LEASE.

The villain of this movie doesn't hold a candle to Hannibal. This guy would be an appetizer to him.