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Untraceable

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: R
Current Showtimes: No showtimes available

Untraceable is one of those films you go into not having great expectations. It’s a “popcorn movie;” you see it with friends to pass the time, or to do other unmentionables in the back of the theater.

The story goes as follows: in Portland, Oregon, FBI agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) works for the Cyber Crimes Division. Typically, she and her colleague Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) work nights, usually helping to stop petty theft and fraud. One day everything changes, as a serial murder named Owen Reilly (Joseph Cross) begins a campaign of terror with its epicenter in Portland. The sadistic murder lures victims using high-tech wizardry, and then slowly kills his prey in a ‘democratic’ fashion. By this I mean he chooses to kill his victims based how many people log on to his website to witness the snuff sequences.

Probably on paper this plot was an intense thriller, after all the Saw series doesn’t stray very far from ‘chose between life or death’ notion, and look how far that got them. But in Untraceable there were forces afoot in the production that bogged this film down. For starters, Diane Lane did an excellent job in her starring role, which can’t be said of her supporting actor Billy Burke (as Detective Eric Box). This quintessential character-actor is too used to playing the lone detective; at one moment he’s trying to be warm and supportive to Lane, the next he is cold and awkward (was this intentional? Untraceable isn’t well enough made for you to know).

Another failing is the absence of suspense; instead of letting the identity of the murderer linger on to keep you guessing, Untraceable gives away his face early on. Then there is the matter of the murderer, who looks ‘brattish’ rather then brutish. However, the worst offense was the length of this thriller. While it was only 100 minutes long, I could physically feel each one pass by like it was in slow motion. As I scanned across the half-empty movie theater, I saw viewers slouching in their chairs, nearly unable to keep their eyelids open.

Untraceable had so many unnecessary and drawn-out scenes, featuring largely pointless development, that cutting them out would have given a good 30-40 minute action packed session. However, if they had decided to do that, this feature length film would become a TV miniseries for FOX, which is probably where it belongs. My advice, wait until this film is on TBS to watch it, don’t rent it or download it, and make sure you have some popcorn and a couple of friends handy to keep yourself awake.