"Untraceable"

Seen on: January 25, 2008

The players: Director: Gregory Hoblit, Writer: Allison Burnett, Cast: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt

Facts of interest: Hoblit also directed "Fracture."

The plot: Diane Lane stars as an FBI agent struggling to hunt down an untraceable serial killer who tortures his victims in front of millions of Internet users. The more people log on to his live killings, the faster his victims die.

Our quick thoughts: While the FBI struggles to hunt down a ruthless serial killer in “Untraceable,” the film’s flaws are quite easy to trace. Gregory Hoblit’s latest thriller is infested with a horde of unforgivable weaknesses, most of which originate from plain awful screenwriting. Instead of setting up a suspenseful murder intrigue, the film abuses the power of violence to openly attack the news media’s preference for the negative and accuse our society of being excessively voyeuristic. “Untraceable” shows too much of what it condemns, hoping to shock its viewers and make a difference.

The first part of the movie qualifies as watchable due to Hoblit’s decent direction and Diane Lane’s average performance, but once the mystery surrounding the untraceable killer begins to unfold, Lane’s character engages in a series of stupid decisions that compromise her entire character. What we’re left with in the end is a superficial thriller that is never suspenseful or smart enough to captivate the attention of its audience. I really appreciated Hoblit’s previous film “Fracture” for its solid twits and interesting characters, but “Untraceable” misses its mark and leaves us with nothing but a few cheap torture scenes.     

Freaky quote: "Any American who visits the site is an accomplice to murder." - Peter Lewis

The final word: Unless you're dying to find out how to mistreat a kitten or how not to make a solid crime thriller, Hoblit’s film will offer you nothing but an unnecessary headache.