While certainly compelling in terms of drawing you into the story, Untraceable has a number of nagging narrative flaws.
Untraceable (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:139
Fresh:20
Rotten:119
Average Rating:4.2/10
Consensus: Despite Diane Lane's earnest effort, Untraceable manages to be nothing more than a run-of-the-mill thriller with a hypocritical message.
Rated: 18 [See Full Rating] for some prolonged sequences of strong gruesome violence, and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:29-02-2008
Synopsis: Directed by Gregory Hoblit (FRACTURE, PRIMAL FEAR), UNTRACEABLE follows F.B.I. cybercrimes specialist Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) as she attempts to track down a serial killer who brazenly displays... Directed by Gregory Hoblit (FRACTURE, PRIMAL FEAR), UNTRACEABLE follows F.B.I. cybercrimes specialist Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) as she attempts to track down a serial killer who brazenly displays his murderous deeds on the Internet. Aided by fellow agent Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) and local detective Eric Box (Billy Burke), Marsh tenaciously hunts for the elusive criminal in rainy Pacific Northwest settings, but as she closes in on her target, he deviously finds ways to get closer to her, all the while killing his victims in increasingly faster fashion. Clearly referencing a number of renowned thrillers--most notably the SAW films, SEVEN, and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS--UNTRACEABLE is far from an original cinematic exercise. However, Lane's steely, smart, and beautiful heroine ably anchors the film, which also benefits from its appropriately gloomy Portland, Oregon, backdrop. As with any effective suspense movie, the thrill is in the chase, with the cold-blooded killer proving to be quite adept at disguising his real location, even as his disturbingly popular site remains prominently on the web (hence the picture's title). Though not up to par with classics such as SEVEN and SILENCE, UNTRACEABLE is a well-crafted genre film that easily eclipses other like-minded fare, particularly FEARDOTCOM and the SAW sequels. [More]
Starring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross
Starring: Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Screenwriter: Robert Fyvolent, Mark R. Brinker
Story: Robert Fyvolent, Mark R. Brinker, Allison Burnett
Producer: Steven Pearl, Andy Cohen, Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Hawk Koch
Composer: Christopher Young
Studio: Screen Gems
Reviews for Untraceable
If you aren't a fan of scary thrillers, you're going to want to give this one a wide berth. But if you're aching for your next dose of suspense drama adrenaline, Untraceable may just do the trick.
Previsível e desinteressante, tenta contornar a trama clichê com cenas que investem na violência gráfica, mas sem sucesso.
Untraceable will have steam for a little while and then it is just going to die down and become the $5.99 movie at Walmart.
...a generic, garden-variety thriller that's almost entirely lacking in genuine thrills or surprises...
Neither terrible nor memorable, Untraceable is the sort of movie that lives up to its name %u2013 within an hour of seeing it, memories of it will vanish without a trace.
The movie's run of the mill stuff - fairly entertaining but not particularly inventive - with the standard twists and turns. Yet another film featuring a cute but horrific serial killer fixated on a beautiful and intelligent female law officer.
Part of the problem with "Untraceable" is the identity of the killer behind the Web site is revealed way too early, thus taking most of the mystery out of the movie.
Creepy, suspenseful cyber-thriller about downloading death, hacker homicide, and a baby-faced computer geek wielding a mouse as a deadly weapon.
[T]he honkingly stupid script is the kind that inspires Mystery Science Theater call-and-response.
What is ultimately more disturbing than the premise itself is the way director Gregory Hoblit injects a sensational voyeuristic element to the proceedings. I felt as though I needed a good wash after watching.
Even if you take the film's moral lesson at face value, the overkill is discouraging, and not very instructive.
Untraceable is nothing more than a paint-by-numbers suspense thriller undeserving of your mental bandwidth.
a... po-faced affair, pretending to be above all the sensationalism and depravity that it exploits, as though Hoblit and co. are somehow themselves immune from their killer's obsession with viewing figures.
While it would be unfair to say there aren’t moments of reasonable suspense, playing off our natural aversion to people being tortured does not constitute good filmmaking.
Here's an interesting concept that could have been so much more. And its de-volution isn't "Untraceable" %u2013 you can watch it dissolve after the solid setup.
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