Just when you thought torture movies like "Saw" (2004) and "Hostel" (2005) couldn't get any cheesier or unrealistic, "Untraceable," a new film starring Diane Lane and Colin Hanks, has come along to prove you wrong.
The film follows FBI Cybercrime Division detective Jennifer Marsh (played by Diane Lane), who professionally tracks down identity thieves as well as cyber-predators (think Chris Hansen of Dateline). She lives with her mother and young daughter and is mourning the death of her husband.
Everything seems to be going well, or as well as could be expected when one's life is centered around criminals, until the group finds the Web site www.killwithme.com, featuring a live video feed and a chat room.
The main idea of this strange site is that the victim on the site will die faster as more people visit it through a very complicated technical setup. Marsh reports this to her pompous and unconcerned boss, setting off a chain of events that plays out throughout the movie.
The FBI tries to shut the site down, but can't due to some technical, mumbo-jumbo reason, which is very unrealistic and hard for the average viewer to comprehend (probably because it has no basis in reality).
One of the problems is that the site has copy versions on different servers all over the world, making it untraceable. This means that the good guys can't figure out who is behind the torture and mayhem. As word gets out that the site is up, and that it features live feeds of people being killed, more people tune in, and the victims die faster - and in increasingly elaborate and asinine ways.
The film doesn't get more complicated than that. It is a drawn-out cat-and-mouse game that mimics many of the other films in its genre. The problem is that the film aims for a combination horror-thriller genre, but it tries too hard to accomplish the first point, and has a hard time deciding how to accomplish the second. Sometimes it focuses on the scary aspect that technology can hold; sometimes it deals with the emotional problems surrounding Marsh's family as she becomes too involved in the case. The movie can't make up its mind.
At points it's hard to see how victims are related, and at other times it is glaringly obvious who will be next. Let's just say that online daters should probably stay away from this movie. It's doesn't even do justice to its own predictability. After the FBI discovers who is behind the nefarious Web site, it takes the task force way too long to find him. The guy still has time to intimidate Marsh. But, oddly enough, the film finishes abruptly. The entire film is badly timed. It draws out scenes that should have gone by quickly and shorts important events.
The torture scenes in the film are mild in comparison to other horror films. There's nothing too graphic, but the mere thought of some of the contraptions may cause you to vomit.
The most interesting aspect of the film is its commentary on America's obsession with violence and death. References are made to videotaped executions and shock Web sites. One of the characters creates a "Faces of Death" (1978)-esque compilation of these horrid scenes for later viewing. The basic human curiosity is the downfall of the victims, and the film reminds us of this constantly.
If you enjoy the torture movie thing, any one of the actors, or a halfway decent thriller, it might be worth it to spend eight bucks and see "Untraceable" in theaters (although renting it's probably a better idea). On the other hand, if you can't stand bad acting or writing, you might want to pass on this one.
