UK Edition
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Screenwriters: Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker
Starring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks
Running time: 100 mins
Certificate: 18
To what extent does a movie that deplores the vicious crimes of a fictional killer actually wallow in those slayings? Despite seemingly noble intentions of social commentary on the damaging role the internet can play, Untraceable is sadly all too keen to revert to the generic conventions of the bog standard thriller.
The premise is certainly gripping on paper, concerning an 'untraceable' cyber-killer who traps victims in hidden locations and streams footage of them live on the web. The more people who log on to his site, the quicker the death will be. Cleverly, these sick voyeurs are effectively accomplices to the murder, for if nobody was watching then no death would occur. This neatly ties in with the contemporary debate about the media hounding celebrities to death through their stalking pack of paparazzi. The media's defence is that they are merely giving the public what they want, satiating an inner voyeuristic desire to see the likes of Britney going shopping in a pharmacist with one of her udders hanging out of her top.
However, the treatment of these issues is unsuitable for any moralising - most notably whenever a killing takes place. The tropes of the genre are deployed to heighten the impact and titillation, with stylistic shadows, extreme close-ups and an intrusive pulse-pounding score all combining to utterly shatter the cerebral pretences Untraceable seemed so keen to flout. The killer, a one-dimensional nutcase complete with mandatory demented, unblinking gaze and token motivation, seems to have taken his cue from the Saw movies and matched them for inventive killing devices.
In particular, slayings that involve devices such as sun lamps and battery acid are inventive - but the lines are crucially blurred between one praising the film's invention and one commending the killer's invention. In that respect, the audience is effectively functioning as the depraved web user 'accomplices' who log onto the killer's website. To put it bluntly, that is totally counterproductive to the stance established at the beginning of the film.
It is nonetheless refreshing to see the film spearheaded by Diane Lane, for there are too few Hollywood movies that feature middle-aged actresses in leading roles in this genre. As FBI Agent Jennifer Marsh, Lane turns in an unstarry performance, denied a flattering soft focus to make her look younger and frequently looking tired and stressed out. While the bags beneath her eyes suggest visual realism, Lane has little to work with. Attempts are made to give Marsh some depth through a family tragedy, but she is nothing more than a mere plot function bereft of any interesting traits.
A film with a serious identity crisis, Untraceable craves to deliver an incisive social meditation only to bow to the visceral and structural demands of the Hollywood thriller, complete with a predictable protagonist versus antagonist set piece battle at the denouement. Mediocre to the bone, this movie fails to provoke enough thought or sufficient tension.
