untraceable

[Stefen]

HAHA I remember when AICN had that shitty gray layout. That was like the late 90's haha.

[I Love a Magician]

did he pose that monitor for the photo because what the fuck

[pete]

you're taking me right?!

[MacGuffin]

Untraceable
Bottom Line: This taut, savvy cyber-thriller makes for one of the better net flicks.
By Michael Rechtshaffen; Hollywood Reporter

In "Untraceable," the ever-capable Diane Lane plays an intrepid agent in the FBI's cyber-crime unit who is on the virtual trail of a psychopath who broadcasts his grisly torture killings on the Web.

Although the plot might feel as if it's made up of borrowed bits and bytes, thanks to Lane's typically committed performance and Gregory Hoblit's usual intelligent, brisk direction ("Fracture," "Primal Fear"), the picture remains sufficiently compelling.

Toss in a killer who is sick and twisted enough to satisfy the "Saw" set, and you've got yourself a marketable Screen Gems release that should download solid midrange numbers.

Lane's Special Agent Jennifer Marsh is a single mother by day who works nights in the FBI's Portland, Ore., bureau trolling the Internet for fast-moving sexual predators and identity thieves. 

It's a particularly intense game of cat and mouse that requires lightning-quick decisions and even quicker fingers on the keyboard, but Marsh and her partner, Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks), usually nail the perps.

Trickier is finding a way to extricate herself from her high-tech, wired existence.

Driving home from work, she presses the OnStar button in her car to find out just how bad the traffic tie-up is in front of her, but she'll soon discover the annoying rubber-neckers checking out an accident is nothing compared to the growing millions logging onto a disturbing Web site offering real-time killings.

The first victim is a kitten, but the ante is upped considerably on killwithme.com, showing the systematic torture of kidnapped human prey whose ultimate time of death is hastened by the numbers of visitors to the site.

Initially the victims appear to be randomly snatched, but it soon becomes apparent that the killer is actually closing in on Marsh and her loved ones.

Hoblit, whose father was an FBI agent, maintains an effectively tense pace while making unpleasant observations about society's voyeuristic impulses, but it still can't cover one glaring character implausibility in the script -- credited to Robert Fyvolent and Mark R. Brinker along with Allison Burnett -- that lands Marsh in major hot water.

That misstep aside, "Untraceable" is highly watchable, anchored sturdily by Lane's convincing performance.

In addition to displaying an impressive dexterity with all that technical jargon, she really gets under her character's skin, struggling to establish some kind of division between work and home.

She gets solid support from Hanks, who shares his dad's easy affability and vocal quality, along with Billy Burke as a Portland police detective who joins forces with her, and reliable Mary Beth Hurt as her supportive mother.

Tech specs are all high res, with cinematographer Anastas Michos giving those unpleasant visuals a fittingly chilly, clinical appearance; while editor David Rosenbloom, a frequent Hoblit collaborator, cuts effectively to the bone.

[pete]

I wished it was worse.  it wanted to be boring and proper like CSI but also gory and hoaky like Saw, the boring stuff won.  A lot of thriller foreshadowing, a lot of cyber-babble, and a lot of moralizing.  the ending was fun, as the ending of the trailer promised, but everything that led up to it was eye-rolling garbage.
before the film started, a fully-sighted lady with a pet dog was eyeing the seats next to me, 'cause her dog couldn't stand sitting that close to the screen.  they were reserved for the press, but she was relentless.  she kept on yelling at the security people, calling them nazis and stuff, until finally it was confirmed that the seat next to me was empty.  the dog slept through the movie.  the lady uttered some words, but no more than anyone else in the audience.  as the movie ended, it was just as Lucid said, an old lady walked through us.  she was an hawaiian-looking, slightly chubby lady.  the dog lady looked exactly like every rich white single dog aunt you've witnessed.  the chubby lady crossed the dog lady and the dog lady flipped out.  she screamed at her, someone's still sitting here, there's a fucking living person sitting her, etc. etc.  the chubby lady was clearly embarrassed, trying to slowly work her way through the lady and the dog, then the dog lady began smacking the chubby lady with her dog in one arm.  she kept on smacking until the old lady got passed her.  I didn't get to talk to the screen as much as I wanted (I think the only thing I got to say was "he forgot to hack into her gun!"), so I wanted to talk to the dog lady.  I said "that's very classy, miss, hitting an old lady."  she said "well, she walked into me." she realized the whole row was looking at her and started packing very quickly.  I said "hey, I know an orphanage down the street, lets go kick the shit out of some orphans!"  the dog lady got up and was running from the theater, she kept on shouting defensive remarks over her shoulder at our general direction.

[Stefen]

HAHA. What the fuck? Sounds like you two went to the best screening ever.