You could say that “Untraceable” starring Diane Lane, is a cyber-thriller as the
movie tries to reach out to humanity and say that too much internet can kill
you!
The movie is set in Portland,
Oregon, and Diane Lane plays the role of Special
Agent Jennifer Marsh of the FBI’s cyber crime unit which deals with the
investigation and prosecuting criminals that use internet as a “murder weapon.”
Jennifer is a widow and single mom too, who is living with
her mother, Stella (Mary Beth Hurt), her 8-year-old daughter, Annie (Perla
Haney-Jardine), and a cat.
She works at night in order to spend more time with her
daughter and mainly because the cyber-criminals are most active during the
night. The criminals that she and her colleagues catch are mainly
pornographers, pedophiles and fraudsters.
So you can say that she has seen it all…until now.
A new guy is in town and is doing his best as getting
attention on the internet through his website, www.killwithme.com.
At first he starts softly with a kitten. Even though the
murder happens off camera, we can see the set up, and it’s not a pretty
picture.
You probably think that he will stop at kittens? Well no.
Next off he kills a man. He hooks him up to an arcane, some sort of death
device which is hooked up to his computer.
The interesting part of the movie comes in: the more people
log on to his website the faster the person dies. So if nobody logged in,
nobody would die. The ones who watch it are accomplices to murder.
Now that’s an interesting way to put the problem of internet
addiction people have in these days.
That’s when Agent Marsh comes in and tries to locate the
wacko. But he is protected behind some kind of firewall and fake IP addresses
and makes it more difficult to trace him. What do you know? He is untraceable!
Still FBI knows that the killer is in Portland because he contacts people.
But don’t kid yourself that Lane is alone in all this mess.
Ah…no! She has helpers too.
Eric (Billy Burke) is her colleague who protects her, giving
you a hint of a possible romantic interest, but he doesn’t go any further.
Another colleague of Marsh is the young and kinda nerdy Griffin, played by Colin
Hanks. He is the perfect example of internet freak and the victim type: he is
used of dating girls that he meets on the internet. There won’t be long until
he gets in the hands of the criminal.
Jennifer is the typical woman who struggles with family and
career, and the more she gets involved in the case, the more she becomes a target
so it’s predictable that at one point she, her daughter, or both of them will
end up in the killer’s cellar.
The movie is directed by Gregory Hoblit, who is known for
movies like “Primal Fear” "Frequency" and
"Fracture."
It was shot in Portland
and a temporary studio was constructed in Clackamas, Oregon
where all photographs that didn’t involve location were done like the cyber division
of the FBI, Marsh's house and the FBI building elevator.
Even though the movie might appear a softer version of “Saw”
and “Hostel,” it makes you wonder if this could be done, and this is where the activity
on the internet heads to. Maybe we will get to download into our computers and cell
phones such kind of monstrosities…but we will get to be untraceable?
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Diane
Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross, Mary
Beth Hurt
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Screenwriter: Allison Burnett
Producer: Steven Pearl, Andy Cohen, Tom Rosenberg, Gary
Lucchesi, Hawk Koch
Release date: January 25, 2008
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.
