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Untraceable
By admin | April 22, 2008
Cast: Diane Lane, Billie Burke, Colin Hanks
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Running time: 100 mins
Hoblit loves directing thrillers that are as twisted as a corkscrew.
His previous films, Primal Fear and Fracture, attest to that. In his latest project he is on top form once again.
It’s about a hunt for a serial killer, with a difference. The psycho performs his murders in public, for a live Internet audience.
The victims are all placed in a lethal trap. For example, one person is stripped naked with his legs encased in concrete. He is surrounded by sun lamps, and a live-streaming image is posted on the website “Kill With Me.”
The killer then tells the viewers that the number of hits the site gets will accelerate, or slow down, the heat to which the man is exposed. The more people log on, the faster he fries.
The killer coerces the thrill-hungry public to participate in an act of public murder. Inevitably, the site is jammed with viewers and everyone who watches is a murderer.
It’s a fiendish scheme that an FBI cybercrime agent, Jennifer Marsh (Lane), and her partner, Griffin Dowd (Hanks), must unravel.
Local cop Eric Box (Burke) joins them, but the cunning villain has made his website untraceable. Indeed, any attempt to crack it gives the killer the name and location of the investigators, who instantly find themselves on the killing list.
There are echoes of David Fincher’s Seven and a touch of The Silence of the Lambs with its cryptic clues, but the ingenious and sinister use of the Web puts this film on a different level. It’s only in the last 10 minutes that the film resorts to the traditional car chases and kicking in of doors, but even those have a twist or two in them.
The grey setting of Portland, the skilled cast and the frightening look at the dark side of the online community will keep you glued to your seat in horrified fascination.
Topics: Film Reviews |