Stars:
**
Rating: R for language, violence and
disturbing images
Run
Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
I fall somewhere between disturbed and offended by this gruesome techno-thriller that speaks far more to the disquieting roots of “Se7en” than to the sinister superhighway of “The Net”.
Diane
Lane pays her dues as FBI Cyber Crimes Agent Jennifer Marsh, a struggling
single mom who routinely busts hackers specializing in high-end tech and
low-end porn. Exploited servers, black hole IPs and mirrored botnets are all in
a day’s work for this frazzled professional femme.
Things
take a nasty turn when Marsh and dogged co-worker Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks)
uncover KillWithMe.com, complete with live streaming video of a kitten tortured
to death by starvation. And it doesn’t stop there: the sicko’s next victim is
seen bound and shackled with the website’s name carved on his chest. Each hit
on the site ups a super dose of anti-coagulant,
virtually assuring a fatal bleed-out as online gawkers clamor for their gory
fix.
Marsh
and Dowd rush to dismantle the sophisticated and seemingly untraceable site
while the perpetrator invites the whole world to help him execute more
unwitting prey in unspeakable fashion.
“Untraceable”
unsettles on so many levels, most notably the aura of reality that pervades the
killer’s ability to manipulate the internet and hack into confidential files to
suit his deadly needs. And squirm-worthy cyber-rubbernecking,
the guilty but irresistible urge to tap into pain and suffering at another’s
expense. Too close to home for the average reality TV junkie.
Gregory
Hoblit (“Fracture”) knows how to craft a solid thriller with the help of moody
washed-out colors of rainy Portland, Oregon and a steady beat of palpable
dread. Lane plays it smart until the last act, pulling an uncharacteristically
stupid and risky move that places her in harm’s way as dictated by the
strictures of a conventional plotline.
The
killer’s motivations are crystal clear, cloaked in psychological hurts and
social commentary on online jurisdiction and a limitless ebb and flow of
dramatic and potentially harmful web exchanges.
When
it’s all said and done “Untraceable” hits its mark with unforgettable visuals
laden with potential for undesirable nightmares. Life is too short for
long-term exposure to relentless agony and distress, even in the guise of
entertainment.