Friday, May 16, 2008

UNTRACEABLE

UNTRACEABLE, UNWATCHABLE
What a waste of time. By my posting on the Internet, the movie's message would be reinforced. The Internet can be used for evil and not good and it unites us to see things we never imagined. Early on we see what the moral of this story is as our main character, tough FBI agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) literally drives by a gory accident and we see the cars slowing to see. However, it is not merely a message driven film. Actually, it feels like there are two films mismatched and shoved together, the glue still wet and sticky. One film is a copy of the Saw series. It is violent, graphic and uncalled for. I was hoping it would only suggest the atrocities, but it doesn't. Credit that to the societal need for blood and guts.
The second film is a character piece, only there is only one character, Agent Marsh. There are other actors in the film, but Agent Marsh has more of a back-story than anyone. Think of The Silence of the Lambs in reverse. The bad guy barely has a thread of a motive for the killings and we don't really care about her domestic life. It is scary to think about how much information is accessed on the Internet. What happens to our world when the power goes off? How long could we function not being able to use the ATM, credit cards, debit cards... it is a good message, just not carried well in this movie.
NOT a pick: Disjointed stories that don't work well together. Pay cash and see a better flick.