|
'Untraceable' movie review |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Robert W. Butler
|
|
Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
|
|
|
|
A competent but unremarkable crime thriller, “Untraceable” does introduce one fascinating, troubling notion — that Americans are so addicted to their media that they would happily become accessories to murder in order to get their daily fix of electronic thrills.
Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) is a Portland resident, single mother and computer specialist for the FBI. She has a gun but hardly ever touches it, since she spends most of her time in front of a monitor chasing cyber criminals. Now and then she picks up the phone and orders a SWAT team to come down hard on some teen hacker who’s been buying porn and big-screen TVs with stolen credit card numbers.
In “Untraceable,” though, Jennifer matches wits with a much more disturbing computer criminal. Someone has snatched a man off the streets of Portland and rigged him up with a machine that is injecting a fatal cocktail of drugs into his bloodstream. The helpless victim can be viewed via live streaming video on a Web site. The more users who log onto the site to watch, the faster the flow of deadly drugs.
Jennifer is stumped. The Web cast is being routed through overseas servers that change every few seconds, and there’s no way to find where the feed is originating. The helpless authorities can only plead with the public to not visit the site.
Good luck with that.
Like Jigsaw in the “Saw” movies, the killer excels at dreaming up Rube Goldberg-ish methods of killing his captives. He cooks one with heat lamps. He dissolves another in a vat of water and acid. How fast they die depends on how many of us are watching.
The interesting part of this premise is why otherwise responsible citizens would abet this fiend. But this being a Hollywood movie, that’s the part of the story “Untraceable” ignores. We’re here for cheap thrills, not an uncomfortable examination of culpability.
“Untraceable” works well enough on a pure suspense level. The screenplay by Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker and Allison Burnett offers plenty of red herrings as to the identity of the bad guy and the setup alone is enough to churn stomachs. Director Gregory Hoblit specializes in thrillers (“Primal Fear,” “Fallen,” “Fracture”) and knows how to work the material.
Critic says: 2½ stars
Rating: R for grisly violence and torture and some language
Running time: 1 hr. 40 mins.
Starring: Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billie Burke
Showing at: Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Cinemark Greeley Mall, Metrolux 14
—————
| Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
