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Watch me kill ‘Untraceable’
I flirted with the idea of calling Untraceable something like Unremarkable. Then I realized that title would be inaccurate. By the time this would-be techno-thriller ends, it is remarkable - remarkably stupid.
It didn’t start out that way, though. In its early stretches, the film seemed imaginative and suspenseful with a great concept: what if a serial killer would broadcast his murders on the Internet and rig his killing machines in such a way that the more hits his Web site got, the faster a victim would die? Such is the dilemma faced by an FBI team with Diane Lane front and center, as they grapple with increasingly grisly killings.
It’s a clever idea that not only presents chilling ways to die; it also turns that concept on its head by daring to hold the audience accountable for being morbid enough to look. Such is the age we live in when “news crews” camp out around Michelle Williams’ apartment, just waiting to get that first picture of her face that is anguished over the death of Heath Ledger.
Are we guilty too if we watch? It’s an issue worth debating, so it’s too bad the movie fails to address it in any substantial way, then squanders its promise by turning its smart characters into dunces so we can have our big action climax.
The screenplay by Robert Fyvolent, Mark R. Brinker and Allison Burnett establishes that Lane is a pretty smart FBI agent. Then, she’s driving down the road one day, when suddenly, she hears the killer’s voice. She realizes he’s hacked into her vehicle’s computer and is shutting it down. So, of course, she gets out of the vehicle, weapon drawn. After she gets some distance away, she looks back and sees her vehicle has turned on again.
Now - would you be stupid enough to get back inside?
To make matters worse, the killer goes on to commit an even bigger blunder that makes the finale feel rushed. So much for being an evil genius.
Lane has always been an eminently watchable and welcome presence, but Untraceable saddles her with an indistinct character that could have been played by almost any actress worth her salt. Other members of the cast, including Colin Hanks and Mary Beth Hurt, fare no better.
Director Gregory Hoblit, who has made solidly entertaining crime dramas like Primal Fear and Fracture, may be able to shoot a murder scene with flair, but he can’t save this film’s story from suffering a miserable execution.
GRADE: C
