People who see the movie “Untraceable” may find themselves wondering if the Internet is full of nothing but psychos and crooks.
The movie which started Friday is directed by Gregory Hoblit who also directed films like Hart’s war and Frequency, which were both released in 2002.
The script is written by Mark Brinker. This is the first movie he has written.
The film revolves around the FBI’s Cyber Crime Unit who investigates many internet crimes from ID theft to child porn and so on.
The film focuses on Agent Jennifer Marsh played by Dianne Lane another agent Griffin Dowd, played by Colin Hanks, and Detective Eric Box, played by Billy Burke.
One night the agents are given the address of an internet site named “Kill with me.”
On the site they witness the death of a man whose death is sped up by how many people visit the site.
Soon there are more deaths. Each one is quicker than the one before as more people are drawn to the site by an apparent need to view what is off limits. The killer knows that some people are drawn to death and uses this to his advantage.
As Marsh draws closer to the killer, he escalates things by making the case personal, breaking into her computer, setting up a feed of her house and leaving a dead body in a car outside the home the agent shares with her mother and young daughter.
This film seems to be trying to follow in the footsteps of the Saw series with creative traps and a complicated and intelligent villain. But, this movie doesn’t live up to the Saw films, although there are some gruesome and creative death scenes.
The film seems to be drawing a good sized audience as it premiered at number five on the top earning films list earning over eleven million dollars.
Where Untraceable falls short is that in the Saw films, the killer is trying to teach a lesson, whether about greed or forgiveness. Where as the killer in Untraceable just executes his victims and gives no chance of redemption.
The cast is strong with Lane Burke and Hanks acting skills, and the script is strong at certain points but seems to lose focus. It trails off into the private life of Lane’s character with no apparent reason except to make the audience become emotionally invested in her.
This film may interest those who enjoy good, gruesome death scenes and anyone who thinks America has become too fixated on the voyeurism of internet video feeds.
Those who shouldn’t see this filmis anyone with a weak stomach or who is already scared that the Internet is crawling with nothing but creeps and stalkers.
