After watching “Untraceable,” most viewers will be left with nothing more than a bitter taste in their mouths. In what presents itself as a new-age psychological thriller, equipped with the premise of virtual crime, “Untraceable” fails to leave a lasting impression. Diane Lane stars in the cyber-thriller as Special Agent Jennifer Marsh, a woman who is constantly called on to investigate internet crime, along with her partner Agent Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks).
For this particular bureau of the FBI, Jennifer and her colleagues find themselves dealing with the criminal mind of a serial killer who enjoys torturing his victims and airing their murders live over the internet. By using a Web streaming video device, the viewers who tune in to witness each murder are unknowingly active participants and accomplices. For each and every additional viewer to the video, the more torture his victim must endure.
This idea of murder via the Web is not only gruesome in its concept, but also unimaginable in its approach to actually function systematically in a moral world. The insinuation that millions and millions of computer users would participate in such a deviant act, despite serious warnings from the FBI, is almost like accusing every member in the audience of “Untraceable” of doing the exact same thing.
The uncharted world of the internet is a dangerous one, to say the least. Even though we can shop, write letters and nowadays even attain a college degree online, one should not forget that it’s also a place of identity theft, internet stalkers, and in this film’s case, murder.
While “Untraceable” tries very hard to take cyber crime to the next level, its partaking is very formulaic, predictable and bizarre. The fact that the serial killer’s motive is either blurry or nonexistent doesn’t help “Untraceable’s” cause. In addition, the notion that a 20-year-old could create a Web site that remains untraceable to all sorts of government agencies and bureaus such as the FBI, CIA and so forth, doesn’t seem plausible. Besides, the killer’s dimwitted Web site, titled Killwithme.com, in which Web surfers log on to watch murders while simultaneously participating in them, is nothing that hasn’t been seen before on an episode of “CSI” or “NYPD Blue”.
Diane Lane, who’s yet to really give an outstanding performance in any of her films, doesn’t improve here either. An actress from “Law ‘ Order” could’ve replaced her, and no one would have even noticed the difference. While still turning in satisfactory work, she falls short in her attempt to make the audience really care for her character. Whether it’s a lack of character development, run-of-the-mill acting, or both, Lane simply doesn’t have the same caliber of screen presence of some of her contemporaries like Jodie Foster or Michelle Pfeiffer.
That being said, Lane still delivers the most among a cast of boring and forgettable performances that aren’t even worth mentioning. Colin Hanks (yes, that is Tom Hanks’s son) as Agent Griffin Dowd only further proves the point that the only reason he has an acting career is because of his father.
In the end, the film tries too hard to be a gripping thriller and doesn’t grasp its subject matter fully in order to comprehensively attribute it to the big screen. “Untraceable” is a flop that’s unworthy of the admissions price.
Frank Godinho can be reached at [email protected]
