Untraceable (2008)

You won't be disappointed!

Lack of good storyline.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Brilliant and touching

Let me start off by saying that this movie is extremely underrated. I think the cast and crew did a tremendous job with the setting of an FBI cyber-division office. In fact, I do believe they actually toured one (I remember in the DVD special features) and set up the office setting as close as they could get. Props to the crew for doing their homework. That probably added to the probability factor of the movie as well. It was very well done and believable. Without getting too far into the movie (or spoiling it), I must say that the acting could pass as actual FBI cyber-division agents. I'm not just saying this because I'm into computer science either. The cast did and excellent job, without rushing the scenes, or pushing things way over-the-top. I liked how the head of the FBI in Portland, advised against pursuing the website with some psycho killing a cat live on a website at first. This is probably what the actual FBI would deter as well. At first the cyber-stalker, and serial killer, was no threat. So, the script did a good job in implementing believable scenarios, and not rushing into things, which would make the film illogical. This movie was very well done. I truly made a connection with the characters, and the story was highly believable. The acting was superb, the script was great, and the dialog was outstanding. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes crime, drama, or thrillers. I own the blu-ray.

Here is a quite scary and persuasive thriller from Gregory Hoblit which kicks off with a simply breathtaking scene or two, as an ordinary woman - Jennifer Marsh, as played by Diane Lane, leaves an ordinary house in an ordinary part of Portland, drives off in an ordinary car to an extraordinary place in which she joins a close-knit team doing an extraordinary job. In brief, she works at an FBI centre at which trained agents use computer and Internet skills to detect online crime (and various kinds of suspect behaviour), calling up immense amounts of data of all kinds in the slickest possible way, before ordering in the SWAT teams once a physical location has been identified - this physical location then having its doors battered down in the most reassuringly low-tech and old-fashioned of ways! This is a fine, fine, well thought-out and executed start sequence that peaks at such a level of speed, incisiveness, mastery of high-tech and (to me) meaningless computer-nerd jargon that I checked the cars in the next scene just to make sure I wasn't inadvertently watching some sci fi offering set at least a few years in the future! I was not, so this is technology deployed to catch "bad guys" that is in place now - or better yet in 2007/8 - when the film was made. Impressive indeed.Having started so very well, this ostensibly-modest film which apparently failed to recoup its budget in cinemas moves on to its main goal and main social comment - also online-related; and this is where we are presented with somewhat self-parasitising and certainly "iterative" aspects inherent in the idea of the film.Basically it goes like this: in order to portray the activities of a madman whose moral-high-ground protesting against the ghoulishness of those surfing the Web sees him making his point by hurting animals and people in devious ways whereby severity of hurt and level of harm depend on viewing figures, the makers of "Untraceable" have themselves to invent three or four ways of killing a victim so mean, sadistic, inhumane and torturing that they may on their own account (conceivably) encourage imitation by some psycho out in the real world, and may very possibly attract that same certain kind of screengoer as is featured in the film, i.e. the kind of person who can't wait to see how far and low the film itself will go! If you see what I mean...In fact, the film does not go that far or that low - it's no gorefest, unlike certain recent offerings which specialise in presenting masterminds of hideously bloody, humiliating and sadistic torture hurting people who come to their houses in extremely foul ways. Nevertheless, there are some pretty awful things (above all deviant ideas) shown, and one could question whether the work in some way panders to the very thirst for on-screen unpleasantness that it is condemning, and that the anti-hero villain (as played by Joseph Cross) is also condemning, paradoxically by engaging in dreadful acts of torture, in his sick way apparently seeking to demonstrate to America how low its Internet users have sunk! In the face of all that, we have the right to ask whether "Untraceable" is of itself thoughtful or prurient, disdainful of screen evil or pandering to it. Ultimately, I plump for the positive reading of this film, primarily because I come away from it (now for the second time) feeling that I have seen a good and worthwhile piece of cinema. It's gritty and grey (it rains a lot in Portland in late autumn), surprisingly well-acted by actors largely unknown, at least to me (albeit also with what was presumably then a bit-part for Jesse Tyler Ferguson now looking like an effective cameo!) And it delivers its punch pretty squarely and seems convincing enough, most especially (though not solely) in that extremely classy first 10 minutes.

Be warned that the bad guy kills a kitten in the first scene. The screenwriter(s) should be condemned for taking this lazy, sloppy, unnecessary shortcut to setting up the bad guy in this film. This is the kind of stereotypical, cardboard cut-out writing that gives Hollywood a bad name. If you have any love and respect for animals you will not buy, rent, or otherwise procure this film and watch it. There are so many other solid, entertaining thriller films out there that do not rely on cheap, cheesy mechanisms to grab attention and generate an emotional response to the antagonist. It is beyond me why a writer would think it acceptable to kill any animal in the story just to show "how bad this guy really is". You can imagine a thousand ways to show how bad a person is--human beings do a multitude of things that can be characterized as sinful, evil, careless, you name it. But to rely on the gratuitous killing of an animal is unforgivable, and in this case, TRACEABLE.

A really typical crime thriller starring Diane Lane as FBI agent Jennifer Marsh, who is attempting to hunt down an untraceable serial killer who posts live videos of his victims on the Internet; the more views his videos get, the more danger his victims get into.With a movie named "Untraceable," it sounds appealing and makes you think some crook is committing nefarious activities through the computer or something, or spying on people through unknown entities, making his whereabouts virtually untraceable until the very end. However, this film ultimately just turns out to be another story about a cop trying to chase down a killer, with some action and a cat-and-mouse game to boot, but with no tension built-up and with cheesy acting. ***spoiler ahead*** And, posting live videos of victims on the Internet and having them get into deeper trouble from the more views it gets? It makes you lose hope for humanity, thinking that people would view live victims on the internet, knowing that it would be detrimental to the victims' health, just for the fun of it. Makes you wonder who these computer-savvied young punks are.The ending is abrupt, not really action-packed or adrenaline-pumping. It's just a really, really typical action thriller.Grade D-