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| Untraceable | 
 enlarge | Director: Gregory Hoblit
Actors: Diane Lane, Zachary Hoffman, Joseph Cross, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy Used: $2.98
You Save: $16.96 (85%)
New (56) Used (62) Collectible (1) from $2.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  81 reviews
Sales Rank: 5654
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Portuguese (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 101
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: COLD19134D
UPC: 043396191341
EAN: 0043396191341
ASIN: B00151QYXU
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Untraceable February 13, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
When the website Killwithme starts up and shows the cruel killing of a kitten, FBI agents Jennifer Marsh (Lane) and Griffin Dowd (Hanks) are on the case. They work for the cybercrime division of the FBI, and are skilled at tracking down criminals over the internet. One week later, the site is back up, this time with a human being tortured. To make matters worse, the more traffic the site gets, the quicker the victim dies. The killer has somehow made the site untraceable, and the FBI can't stop it and as the public finds out about it, it gets more and more visitors. Soon, the killer's game becomes personal, and if Marsh cannot stop him, she might be the next victim.
"Untraceable" is an average thriller with moments of greatness. It starts out well, but spirals downward as it progresses. That's not to say it is bad though, just that it could have been better. Clearly the movie is criticizing the type of material available for viewing on the internet. That being said, the director has no problem showing the audience exactly what he seems to be rallying against. Sometimes less is more, and this would have been a good opportunity to leave things to the imagination rather than providing torture scenes worth of a "Saw" movie. Again, this is not a bad movie, just one that is flawed and could have been better. Wait for the DVD.
 not too shabby February 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
this movie wasnt the greatest but it was pretty good. started slow but had a good story to it and at times gave me even a couple of laughs. there is some blood but not much and it was entertaining. the end was kindof dumb but didnt kill the movie for me. its scary that there are people in this world that actually torture people like this for fun. its worth renting though
 Leaves you feeling dirty, appalled, and disgusted February 6, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The most terrifying part of Untraceable is not the scenes of suspense or gruesome torture; but the image this film left me with--this could be the next step in societies demand for "reality" entertainment.
Jennifer Marsh (played by Diane Lane) a cybercrime FBI agent who fights online criminals most of who are stealing credit card numbers to buy a watch off eBay or downloading music illegally. She receives an anonymous tip about a new website that streams live features of victims being brutally tortured to death as the more people visit the site. Her job suddenly intensifies, and a heightened beat-the-clock investigation begins as the body count rises. Even with all the FBI computers, there is one small problem...the killer is (hint it's in the title)...untraceable.
I will admit it, I was engrossed. Director Gregory Hoblit (Fallen, Fracture) knows how to build suspense with a quiet, taut pacing, but unfortunately he lets it quickly spiral out of control as it shows every torture in gruesome detail, similar to the Saw and Hostel movies.
A big disappointment is that there is no "twist" as you see who the killer is fairly early on, and the motivation for the killer's actions is rather weak. Even as I write this review there are a myriad of "how did?"s, "why did?"s, and "that is not possible!"s
Another that bothered me, was the fact that this story felt hypocritical. It seemed to almost to be a message of how horrible our ravenous appetite for "torture porn" is. Yet, its' portrayal of the general public who logged on to this site, as no better than the killer committing this inhuman crime, was pointless as you witness everything they did, making you feel no different than them.
I was sad Diane Lane was wasted on this film as she delivers a strong, intelligent performance despite the mediocre material, and Billy Burke (playing a detective on the case with her) holds his own well with her as their scenes are laced with attraction.
Untraceable shocks you with people's pitiless, inhumane reactions to the vile torture of another human being and leaves you feeling dirty, appalled, disgusted, and no better than the people who logged on.
It is what it is! February 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A pretty good depiction of internet technology...a bit violent...story was somewhat predictable...BUT, if you like watching this kind of a thriller, I think you'll enjoy this film. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than a few hours of entertainment. One of the better "no hidden message" films recently released.
"Untraceable" as we are Disconnected February 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As I write this review, you should know that I have deliberately avoided reading any commentary about "Untraceable," other than its synopsis. I say this because I am personally acquainted with one of the film's co-authors, and wanted my impressions to be as unfiltered and forthright as possible.
So here goes:
Given the times in which we live, the fact that this film ever saw the light of day is a far bigger story than the script itself. At its core are a group of loosely-connected, dialogue-deprived characters who do little more than facilitate the film's over-riding objective: To showcase a series of horrific and nauseating executions unwittingly facilitated by viewers of the perpetrator's internet website, KILLWITHME.COM.
At its core, this film is a reflection of our society's obsession with spectacle violence, compliments of internet-generated, streaming media delivered to anyone with access to a computer...anywhere in the world. In a grander sense, "Untraceable" is a portrait of modern life, a place reduced to two-dimensions, with violence serving as a conduit for connecting; feeling something...anything.
The dialogue is relevant only in a "card-board" context of moving the plot; not creating real people with real lives and real motivation beyond their immediate jobs and circumstances. As a result, their relationships are tenuous, disconnected and just as dimensionless as the audience's unwitting collusion in cold-blooded murder.
I was sickened by the casual nature of the killings, given the lack of sufficient motivation, intent, reason - and from an audience perspective - empathy with the characters and their circumstances; including the live footage of the killer's father [another person we don't know, and don't care about] having his head blown off and then falling off of the Brooklyn Bridge onto a car below.
If the point of the film was to make a statement about alienation, vis-a-vis the ubiquitous internet, it largely succeeded. And if for just a moment it makes us stop and think about how deadened and immune we are becoming to violence, and how violence itself is, ironically, is the way we reconnect with what it means to be human, then spend the money and put yourself through it. Personally, I think the film would be better suited to a college social studies class in just how sociopathic we have become.
The film was written by Robert Fyvolent and Mark Brinker. Diane Lane stars as FBI agent Jennifer Marsh.
None of the rest really matters...kind of like life these days.
[postscript] I could give this film 5 stars for relevance, but I happen to love intense character development, because I still like to connect with other human beings; and prefer films that do the same.
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