Untraceable

2/4

Starring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross, Peter Gray Lewis

Rated R for Some Prolonged Sequences of Strong Gruesome Violence, and Language

"Untraceable" is a gimmick.  That's all it is.  And the more one thinks about it, the less interesting it actually is.

Jennifer Marsh (Lane) is an agent in the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division.  Together with her partner, Griffin Dowd (Hanks), she tracks down all manner of technological malfeasance.  One day they get a tip about a website called killwithme.com.  To their horror, they discover that it's a snuff site tied to its viewership.  The more people turn in, the faster the victim dies.  First it was a cat.  Then it's a man.  But the website is impossible to trace.

Thrillers usually require a suspension of disbelief.  Even "Seven," a film that this one owes a tremendous debt to, does.  It is the job of the filmmakers to keep the suspense high so that the audience doesn't see the seams.  At least not until the sneak downstairs for a midnight snack, as Alfred Hitchcock so artfully put it. "Untraceable" does not have that quality.  Maybe I'm naive, but the technology needed to pull off something like this does not exist (to the point where it can be done automatically by computer).  Or if it does, I still didn't buy it (which is a testament to how flat this movie is).  "FeardotCom" had an almost identical premise, and for all its faults, it executed it much better.

This might be the most lifeless performance Diane Lane has ever given.  She's sleepwalking through her role, displaying little talent or charisma.  Her other efforts in front of the camera prove that she has plenty of both, but she brings none of it here.  Jennifer is boring.  Billy Burke isn't much better.  He's a jerk rather than the tender-hearted tough guy he tries to be.  Joseph Cross is an adequate villain (no this isn't a spoiler...he shows up twenty minutes into the movie wearing an expression that might as well say "Hi, I'm a serial killer!" in bright neon lights).  Only Colin Hanks and Peter Gray Lewis show any signs of life.

Atmosphere is key to a thriller, and that's where "Untraceable" really comes up short.  Anastas Michos gives the film a cold, metallic feel (presumably to emphasize the techno feel), but he overshoots it.  The film is often so dark that it's impossible to see anything.  Thus, we spend far too much time squinting at the screen to try and see what is going on.  As opposed to, I don't know, being on the edge of our seats.

No doubt the filmmakers would trumpet the film's social commentary.  People love to see carnage.  The internet is dangerous.  Blah blah blah.  Of course these "themes" are present.  But they're obvious and not capitalized on.  They're incidental to the story and treated as such.  A script with real intelligence would have done more than pay lip service to them.

"Untraceable" is a waste of time.  It plays safe at every turn which leads to boredom and, with one exception, little in the way of tension or terror.  Sure, the gruesome violence has the power to make one raise their eyebrows, but other movies have done that sort of thing better and with more flair.  Skip it.