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Untraceable (2008)
Generic, Yet Fulfilling
Directed By: Gregory Hoblit
Starring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, & Joseph Cross
MPAA Rating: “R” (for grisly violence and torture, and some language)
Starring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, & Joseph Cross
MPAA Rating: “R” (for grisly violence and torture, and some language)
After a rather lengthy break from watching and reviewing movies (my apologies), I decided to jump headlong back into the game with the Diane Lane thriller, Untraceable. What I expected was a rather formulaic thriller that was enjoyable strictly on a very basic level...and that, for better or worse, is exactly what I got. It runs along a very basic pattern with every twist and turn calculated down to the very second. The characters are given clichéd back stories that never amount to much except for the bare minimum of characterization. The conclusion is not particularly complex, overly-explained, and fairly predictable. However, Untraceable proposes several intriguing moral questions, sports some gruesome death scenes, and features Diane Lane in a competent and likable performance.
Jennifer Marsh is a single mother and FBI agent who is very good at what she does. She is known for tracking down internet criminals, so it is not surprising when a website called “Kill With Me” turns up on her screen. It displays a cat that is dying faster with every person who is logged on, and it is live. The solution seems simple: shut down the website. But, of course, it just keeps coming back up and it is impossible to trace because it has been routed through an intricate web of computers. “It’s just a cat,” one of her colleagues says. He is right...until the cat dies and is replaced by a human. Very quickly, the situation grows far more desperate. As people continue to disappear and reappear on the website only to die and as millions of viewers continue to tune in, Jennifer and her team race to uncover the identity of the killer, not knowing that he already knows who they are and has equally-horrific plans for each of them.
There are a few actresses who could peel potatoes and I would crawl out of my basement, pay ten bucks for a ticket, and spend twenty more dollars on popcorn and a coke just to watch them do it. Diane Lane is one of them. She is a great actress and, though she does deserve better roles than this, she gives the film all the fuel its plot and second-hand screenplay lack. She brings emotion to the dully-written part, which could have been played by a man with only a few minor tweaks and no one would have noticed. It is the kind of part written for any thespian and it is difficult to imagine any of the screenwriters putting much thought or emotion into its creation. Still, Lane shines just as brightly as ever, providing grace, dignity, and respect to the film.
Untraceable is the kind of film you watch, expecting a solid mystery with a dash of morality. Beneath its blood-splattered exterior, there is an intriguing (if not slightly hypocritical) statement against audience’s obsession with violence. Of course, the message may be more effective if it was not being displayed in a film that also features a man being burnt to death by heat lamps in an extended scene. So yes, it is hypocritical in its message and it really is never as intelligent as it thinks it is, providing a few lapses in logic and all too convenient occurrences to keep the pace bubbling along. However, it makes up for this by delivering a tight and competent thriller that never allows things to get boring. You may have seen all of this before, but Untraceable moves so quickly and viciously that you won’t have time to notice.
Jennifer Marsh is a single mother and FBI agent who is very good at what she does. She is known for tracking down internet criminals, so it is not surprising when a website called “Kill With Me” turns up on her screen. It displays a cat that is dying faster with every person who is logged on, and it is live. The solution seems simple: shut down the website. But, of course, it just keeps coming back up and it is impossible to trace because it has been routed through an intricate web of computers. “It’s just a cat,” one of her colleagues says. He is right...until the cat dies and is replaced by a human. Very quickly, the situation grows far more desperate. As people continue to disappear and reappear on the website only to die and as millions of viewers continue to tune in, Jennifer and her team race to uncover the identity of the killer, not knowing that he already knows who they are and has equally-horrific plans for each of them.
There are a few actresses who could peel potatoes and I would crawl out of my basement, pay ten bucks for a ticket, and spend twenty more dollars on popcorn and a coke just to watch them do it. Diane Lane is one of them. She is a great actress and, though she does deserve better roles than this, she gives the film all the fuel its plot and second-hand screenplay lack. She brings emotion to the dully-written part, which could have been played by a man with only a few minor tweaks and no one would have noticed. It is the kind of part written for any thespian and it is difficult to imagine any of the screenwriters putting much thought or emotion into its creation. Still, Lane shines just as brightly as ever, providing grace, dignity, and respect to the film.
Untraceable is the kind of film you watch, expecting a solid mystery with a dash of morality. Beneath its blood-splattered exterior, there is an intriguing (if not slightly hypocritical) statement against audience’s obsession with violence. Of course, the message may be more effective if it was not being displayed in a film that also features a man being burnt to death by heat lamps in an extended scene. So yes, it is hypocritical in its message and it really is never as intelligent as it thinks it is, providing a few lapses in logic and all too convenient occurrences to keep the pace bubbling along. However, it makes up for this by delivering a tight and competent thriller that never allows things to get boring. You may have seen all of this before, but Untraceable moves so quickly and viciously that you won’t have time to notice.
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