Gregory Hoblit deals in a kind of second tier Hollywood action thriller oeuvre, a poor man’s Brett Ratner, with a tendency to take topical material, such as military lawyers (Hart’s War) and, in this case, FBI cybercrime units, and dumb them down to the point of banality. Like Jonathan Mostow, he represents the 1990s and 2000s archetype director of low brow star vehicles. But Hoblit, who directed the fine Primal Fear, Fallen and Frequency, had more potential than Mostow, who sold out quickly and sunk to making a Terminator sequel and a Bruce Willis sci-fi flop.
Untraceable is prototype Internet conspiracy drivel, with a hackneyed plot years too late and a simple premise of good cops and innocents against sickos. Diane Lane stars as Special Agent Jennifer Marsh, who with the help of her partner Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) discovers an internet site that’s a snuff-film version of YouTube, featuring victims whose speed of death is determined by the number of people visiting the site. This is not a bad hook for a thriller or horror movie, like Saw merged with 8MM. But the psychopath here is a one dimensional cut-out and Marsh and Dowd play this straight like they are Clarice Starling and Jack Crawford in a Hannibal Lector film but without a powerful and complex villain to keep them guessing.
Lane’s star continues to fade, perhaps because an A-list actress in her 40s is pigeonholed into making the same tripe over and over again. Since Unfaithful, she has alternated between thrillers and romantic dramas giving little chance to use her Oscar-nominated talent in truly challenging roles.
Run of the mill thrillers are dull in part because the cinematic palate is a flat digital standard, with no unique cinematography and no tricks aimed at throwing the audience for a loop through smart direction or camera work. At least The Da Vinci Code had those gimmicks going for it. Untraceable is indistinguishable from a host of thrillers where you can’t tell who directed it, who starred in it, or what happens at the end; they’re too bland for us to care.
Cable television series allow for originality over the course of the season. Think of the unique nature of The Sopranos or Dexter. Untraceable is a weak member of the same basic genre, but without a style, timelessness or, most importantly, empathy for us to feel toward the characters.
This movie includes three incredibly predictable twists, ones a small child could uncover. Naturally, our two intrepid FBI agents are going to become personally involved in the case, but the way Hoblit and the writers make this happen is cumbersome. Are we to believe that two cybercrime fighters would be this gullible? Even a straw man layered plot like The Usual Suspects, which – when anybody really thinks about it – falls apart quickly, is still a classic because it never takes its audience for granted. It might take them for suckers, but not for granted. Untraceable, on the other hand, offers plot twists that would be rejected on C.S.I.
Avoid Untraceable unless you have a passion for mindless entertainment with little or no fun.6017340647
Neither terrible nor memorable, Untraceable is the sort of movie that lives up to its name – within an hour of seeing it, memories of it will vanish without a trace.- Brian Webster
Untraceable is prototype Internet conspiracy drivel, with a hackneyed plot years too late and a simple premise of good cops and innocents against sickos.- Jamie Gillies
