Review of Untraceable (2008) by Paul Z — 05 Mar 2009

Despite being very formulaic, this by-the-numbers serial killer movie relishes in reflecting the most hideous core of the contemporary masses. If you could witness a live death online, many of you would repell, but most of you would not be able to help but be intrigued. The machinations by the killer are not quite as epiphanic as Jigsaw's in the Saw films, but they certainly hinge tightly upon the appearance of moral uncertainty on the part of the people of the world.

The fairly predictable premise is that Diane Lane, your average movie policewoman, a widowed single parent because it would be too awkward for the filmmakers to allow the husband to be the homemaker or whatever, is led to a website that features live videos of people being tortured and killed, that is after the site's debut with the torture and death of a kitten, which fortunately is tastefully depicted by mainstream thriller director Gregory Hoblit. The brilliance in the killer's scheme is that the deaths of the victims are directly parallel with the number of hits the site receives. Where Jigsaw tested the boundaries in psychology, this killer does so with sociology, working to shake the world into realizing that the public is unquenchable for the suffering of others.

Overall, Untraceable is a decent suspense effort. Technically, it's well-written, well-directed and well-acted, though it does fall in with the scores of less than memorable B-grade thrillers that have been continually produced since the 1980s, suspense films that can be quite good but are never made with the amount of intensity or artistry that could make them much more impactful.