Untraceable (R)
Mike:
Scott:
Scott: Tonight we are reviewing Untraceable
, a movie about a sophisticated criminal who uses the internet as an accomplice to murder.
What did you think Mike?
Mike: This is another movie where I was psyched after the trailers, but turned out to be a disappointment. The movie starts out promising and then gradually sinks because of all the plot holes.
What did you think?
Scott: Correct, it started out well, but fell apart towards the middle. The idea of the movie was really good, but once you got past the idea, there wasn't a lot of substance
Mike: You’re right. The idea of an untraceable web site run by a murderer sounded interesting. The technology presented in the movie even makes sense.
What doesn't make sense is the way most of the people act, especially the police and FBI.
Scott: You are right Mike, they got the hard technical jargon right and the basic FBI behavior wrong. The technical jargon they use is accurate and intelligent, although it only makes sense if you understand IT.
Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) is an FBI agent whose responsibility is to protect citizens from online criminals. We first see her busting an identity thief and I, for one, was impressed with the operation.
Mike: Diane Lane was another reason I wanted to see this movie. I will never forget her in Unfaithful.
The funny thing is Lane is the only real name in the cast. Aside from Tom Hank's son Colin Hanks, the rest of the cast are the nobodies you would expect in this Saw derivative movie.
Scott: They all look familiar though. You pointed out Hanks, and I remembered Billy Burke from something, but couldn't place it. It was probably from one of his TV roles.
Mike: Don’t know Billy Burke
Scott: I also couldn't place bad guy Owen Reilly, played by Joseph Cross.
Mike: He was Augusten Burroughs in the thoroughly awful Running with Scissors.
Scott: As we were watching the movie it made me think of Saw as well. The traps weren't built the same though, they weren't as intricate.
Mike: They are plenty horrifying though. Do not go to this movie if you have a week stomach.
Scott: It still wasn't as bloody as Saw; it left more to the imagination.
Mike: The first two Saw movies were clever and hinted at things. This movie feels free to show you too much. Saw 3 might have been grosser.
Scott: The problem I had with this movie was it quickly went to movie clichés to make up for poor writing.
Mike: Yes. The characters do dumb things to supposedly build the suspense, but I felt a definite lack of suspense.
I won't give away all the dumb stuff, but our Cyber Crimes expert apparently doesn't even have the basics like Antivirus on her home computers.
Scott: The movie had all of this great technical dialog and then they drop the ball on basic computer security and FBI procedure. They do have some really good in-movie advertising. You have to love that.
Mike: What do you mean?
Scott: There was a 'traffic jam' during the movie that was only there so they could show off the company she used to get away from the traffic.
Mike: Got ya.
Scott: And I don't want to ruin the other ads, but let's just say, it's easy to see the OS of the computer.
Mike: That’s ‘Operating System’ for all you non-nerds reading this!
Scott: I have seen several movies directed by Gregory Hoblit, I even liked a couple of them. Fallen and Frequency were decent movies from a few years ago, Fallen the better of the two.
Mike: As I said the other night, I recognized him as a director and producer on NYPD Blue.
Scott: I never was a fan of that show.
Mike: In fact it looks like he has worked on several Steven Bochco shows.
You have no idea what you missed then. Love the NYPD Blue.
Looks like both writers Robert Fyvolent and Mark Brinker are first timers. That could explain some of the weakness here.
Scott: I think first time writers get caught up in the moment. They have great idea and the suits make them change it.
Mike: Those damn suits.
Scott: So how do you rate this?
Mike: I give this a 2 overall and a 2 for thriller. Good idea; bad execution.
And you?
Scott: I give it a 2.5 overall and a 2 for a thriller. I really liked the tech side of the movie, but when they went cliché, I started to lose interest.
Mike: If you are interested, go see this movie, because in a couple weeks it will be untraceable.
