Untraceable (DVD, 2008)

Untraceable seems like the perfect thriller. And it deals with something that not a lot of thrillers have yet dealt with and that's the idea of cyber crimes and a very disturbing cyber-crime at that. Untraceable could have been the perfect set up for a very disturbing, gory thriller with homages to Silence of The Lambs, Saw, and other thrillers. Unfortunately where the idea was great the execution was awful. I think many mistakes were made with this dud and done differently it could have been great. The unfortunate part is that director Gregory Hoblit is not lacking experience. In fact he has directed some fantastic thrillers and should have been able to make this a far more worthwhile cause. Not only that but he has years of experience of TV Cop Drama and yet fails miserably in creating any sort of character arc or real thrill to the story. Its not a complete wash I mean there are moments where you slide forward on the front of your seat as they dangle this murder in front of you and you think "All right, here we go" and then the next scene sends you slouching back into 'this is boring' mode. Its the perfect collection of the wrong elements.

One reason being Miss Diane Lane. She's a pretty good actress and I like her in a couple of films though I never been a major fan of hers and always seen her in mostly supporting roles. In here I find her boring and just with no emotion to her and that's exactly what she brings to the table. She leads the film in a boring manner without ever really getting into the case besides showing a lot of perseverance. Colin Hanks, probably the most talented on board, does show a lot of potential but they never give him enough to work with so he mostly is just there. Billy Burke is the hot detective who shows up to help out the single Lane. Burke barely is a blip on the radar other than being some sort of lame romantic contact for Lane that never really pans out.

Perhaps given a better, more dynamic script this cast could have pulled together and done something but I think they were an unfortunate ingredient because there was no chemistry no spark, except for maybe a slight connection between Hanks and Lane as partners. Now the real key to this film should have been the murders. The idea was the more people that visited a web site where someone was strung up and dying in a different way, the faster they died. This could have opened up a huge door for being diverse and interesting and they do a half decent job and the murders are grisly and disgusting but everything else around it is so tame and boring that you can easily forget about this film.

This movie has it all..Diane Lane and Billy Burke! Fantastic storyline, the script really rocked..a FBI Agent is tracking down computer weirdos..she's appalled at the sight of the murder of a tiny kitten online..her Boss says "move on", but she keeps checking out the website to her horror the next victim is two legged and wearing a suite..This film is filled with suspense some gore and alot of twists and turns that will leave you guessing..I did feel they short changed us on the killer had I written the script I would have made her young FBI buddy the real killer..had him faking his own murder online even giving them a fake clue to lead them on a wild goose chase would have added more time for the killer to be a mystery instead of revealing who he was so quickly! Another thing that bothered me..in another internet crime movie the FBI kept shutting down the site so the crimes couldn't be committed..yet in this one they kept logging in and monitoring the site which in turn increased the tortures and violent deaths..then they turned and accused the public of being involved in the murders...I was also disgusted at the pathetic comments made by the general public after each murder! I would hate to think people could be so cold and callous..answer me this would those same people have laughed or said such things had it been their Mother, Father, Brother, Sister, Wife, Husband?..uh scratch that last one! The ending was true to the film and I expected nothing less..in the end I give this movie a 5 out of 5 stars only coz Diane Lane and Billy Burke put in such stellar performances, otherwise 4 stars would have been my final score!..See this one you wont be sorry!

A secret service agent, Jennifer Marsh, gets caught in a very personal and deadly cat-and-mouse game with a serial killer who knows that people (being what they are - both curious and drawn to the dark side of things) will log onto an "untraceable" website where he conducts violent and painful murders LIVE on the net. The more people who log on and enter the website, the quicker and more violently the victim dies.

A Great Movie almost like SAW but I injoyed this one more...A Must to own..
{Mrs puman}

Gruesome,anger provoking & oh so true of peoples' psyche. One of earliest scenes tells it all with the Goockers @ roadside accident. Which sets up for several things to come. A little slow @ times & the tortures are quite graphic, setting us,the viewers, to be part of the those internet goockers & co-conspirators of the killer. Also tense & through-out, one hopes that the victims are somehow spared. A movie to watch when one is angered by the incensitivity of human kind or maybe after you have spent an hour in traffic waiting to get to the accident on the road & either gook yourself or drive on through!

Movie was slow moving in general, the plot was simplistic and is a smash between the Saw series and a CSI episode, but potentially less entertaining than either of the two. There was gore and disturbing content which in my opinion may have been inappropriate for the story. It could have been just as powerful without the disturbing pseudo-snuff film scenes as a police film and the suspense could be maximized, or the director should have made the call to make it more like a Saw movie, maintain the disturbing content and bring that fan base in. The target in my opinion was broad, drew in viewers who will be disappointed. Overall, if the movie moved a little quicker, or was potentially less graphic it might have earned a 6. To sum it all up, it was 20 minutes longer than it should have been and was misguided. Potentially worth a rental but even questionable in that case.