Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Untraceable Blu-ray Movie Review

A better-than-expected thriller is also a better-than-expected Blu-ray disc.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 12, 2008

Any American who visits the site is an accomplice to murder.

Whenever I see that a film is rated "R" for "prolonged sequences of strong brutal violence," I figure we're in for either a trick or a treat, a film brimming with over-the-top violence in the vein of Robocop or another sophomoric attempt at grossing out a bunch of teenagers with a dime-a-dozen film like Saw III. What happens, however, when audiences don't see what's advertised in the rating? With all the newfangled ways we're seeing the MPAA spell out everything that happens in the movie in the ratings box (I'm still wondering what "incidental smoking" is, a new one courtesy of the rating for Saawariya), I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't some sort of gimmick or trickery going on, describing the reasons behind the rating to subconsciously lure in the audiences who flock to films like the Saw series and make a few extra bucks on what would otherwise be another "see it and forget it" psychological thriller with a 3-week theatrical run and paltry home video sales and rental numbers. Perhaps having reviewed some of the grossest-of-the-gross violent movies over the past few months I've become desensitized and what may be disgusting to the casual viewer, such as another ho-hum torture scene or shootout, leaves no lasting impression on that part of my brain attracted to certain violence in film. Such is the case with Untraceable, a film that hardly showcases the nonsensical and over-the-top violence of a film like Hostel, violence that seems to be "advertised" by the film's rating. I'm the last person who wants to see violence for the sake of simply seeing how far the envelope can be pushed (which is why I disliked Hostel so much), although when film presents violence with class and for a reason (see Black Hawk Down), I'm all for it. With Untraceable, however, the excessive violence is just not there, the movie actually having to rely on (gasp!) a plot rather than buckets of blood to sell itself once you sit down with your drink and popcorn.

This is us watching you watching us watching you.

Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane, Jumper) serves as an FBI agent working in a special cyber crimes division of the FBI. In the early scenes we see her immersing herself in modern technology, which she uses with apparent ease -- everything from reliance on her car's navigation system and On-Star service, to the FBI's computers with which she hunts down that criminal element who commit crimes online. When she and her partner Griffin Down (Colin Hanks, King Kong) are tipped off to a website depicting the premature and deliberate death of a kitten, they shrug it off as cruel but hardly worth their time. When the same website goes live again, this time featuring a human victim who's time of death is linked to the number of visitors on the site, Marsh and her colleagues begin to take the matter much more seriously, but the web site's level of sophistication is too great for even the FBI's cyber division to crack. As more victims are chosen and killed, each in record time due to an exponentially growing viewership, Marsh must not only hunt down the killer but protect both her family and her colleagues, each becoming targets of the crazed and highly intelligent killer.

Untraceable beat all expectations I had for the movie. That's not to say I found it good; it's far from it, but the film proves itself to be well-paced and interesting, and I never found my brain wandering. The movie kept me engaged from beginning to end, even if I did have to chuckle at a few ridiculous scenes. I also found myself surprised by a few scenes; several times the movie flirted with becoming laughably predictable, but it instead turned each of these sequences upside down, almost laughing at the audience for believing the movie would fall into formula. While Untraceable is by no means this year's best picture (as was the similarly-themed The Silence of the Lambs in 1991), it is a film with an interesting villain whose back story and motivation to kill as he does proved quite intriguing, all the while taking the Saw approach to terror and improving on it (and sparing us the most gratuitous of violence). Because the film managed to keep me intrigued and guessing, not to mention pleased with the quality of the villain's backstory, I found Untraceable to be one of the freshest of the psychological thriller genre films to come around in quite a while.

My one gripe with the film has to do with the cookie-cutter characters and bad acting, save for the villain. I found Diane Lane to be out of her element, a gun in her hand and an FBI jacket on her back couldn't have been more foreign to her if she had found herself standing on the surface of Jupiter. Her character, even if she works with an agency somewhat unique to film audiences, is a bland and stereotyped one, the protective mother and caring daughter, always right but never listened to until it's too late, semi-tough, and resilient female lead. Her character is not a bad one, nor are her qualities; that character just doesn't make for interesting cinema anymore. Neither of the male leads are anything to write home about either. Colin Hanks plays a computer savvy geek-with-a-gun fairly well, though he never stands above the crowd. Billy Burke's (Ladder 49) character is nothing more than window dressing, neither the character nor his portrayal nothing a nameless, faceless, generic actor couldn't have pulled off.

Caution -- the following paragraph may contain spoilers. Readers not familiar with the movie should skip this paragraph and go straight to the main course, the video and audio analyses. I've read numerous criticisms of this film in relation to its depiction of violence, claiming that the film itself glorifies that which it purports to be against. I must disagree with this sentiment. While there is indeed an element of Saw-esque torture, much of what we see is far more reserved in its depiction than your standard-fare torture flick, and anyone who pays attention to the motivations of the killer when his plight and reasons for doing what he does are revealed can see that he's not murdering simply for kicks. His message is loud and clear; he does what he does to shed light on the disgusting subculture that glorifies such nonsensical and violent acts. Is he wrong for speaking out against this depiction by creating his own sick voyeuristic website that depicts people dying in horrific ways? Of course he is. Does Untraceable glorify those acts? I don't think so. The final line we see in the film reinforces the fact that such sickness is here to stay, a random Internet dweller wondering how he can download the film's final showdown (which was broadcast live over the Internet), supposedly for repeat viewings in the future. If anything, Untraceable shows us the seedy underbelly of the Internet as a means of scaring us away from it, depicting how sick and vile some people truly can be. I don't see this film as being any different than numerous anti-war films, for example, especially the brutally violent ones we've seen from Platoon to Full Metal Jacket that show the horrors of war as a means of conveying to audiences just how nasty that aspect of life can be. In Untraceable, that message has come home, literally, right to the very screen upon which you are reading this review.

Untraceable Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Untraceable is found on Blu-ray with a good-looking 2.40:1, 1080p high definition transfer. This is yet another one of those films that seems so methodical in its shot selection, color palette, and overall drab look that it's a bit harder to judge than your standard-fare, nothing fancy movie. The film's subject matter is bleak, and the look of the film exaggerates that feel quite a bit. Shades of gray dominate most frames, all other primaries faded and dulled to the extreme. The image isn't super-detailed, but it looks good nevertheless, the dark, gray, dreary look of the film sometimes making detail appreciation and recognition a bit harder than normal. The image isn't overly sharp, either. Softness abounds in many scenes, but then again I firmly believe it's all part of the visual style of the movie. Flesh tones and black levels are both solid, about as good as can be expected at the moment. Many scenes are so dark that blacks dominate the screen, but there isn't much lost detail, all that seems to be obscured is what was meant to be obscured. Overall, I was pleased with this transfer. This is yet another Blu-ray that replicates the theatrical experience very well, retaining the wonderful film grain that gives it that cinematic feel, not to mention enhances the tone of the movie considerably. It's an extremely dark and gritty tone, befitting the mood of the movie extremely well, perhaps the best part of the movie, visually. This transfer is anything but crystal-clear, well-defined, and clean; instead, the movie opts for a darker, ugly look, one that is replicated to near perfection on this disc.

Untraceable Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Boasting a fine soundtrack, Untraceable's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless sound mix offers listeners a fairly engrossing, realistic listening experience, one that that provides all the basics of a great soundtrack. This one is a fun listen, but reference quality it is not, mostly because of the slightly less aggressive nature of the mix that we hope for and expect from the best action-oriented pictures. There is very good sound panning right from the opening credits, and the sound is expertly placed as it moves across the front of the soundstage. Perfectly rendered ambience in many outdoor scenes adds to the realism of the mix, each sound placed appropriately and at just the right volume to boot. Rain and thunder are almost a character in the movie, and these moments are very dynamic without being in-your-face, the effect simply real and immersive, not over-pumped or too loud. Dialogue reproduction proved to be fine, although I did notice several instances featuring slightly muddled or hard-to-hear dialogue, though such instances were far and few between. While not numerous in number, several sequences offer very good bass, especially near the end of the film. Lows are never too low or distorted, instead rumbling at what seems to be the perfect level for the action depicted on-screen. You'll never feel it rattling the windows or your bones, but it is there in a large enough quantity to bring a smile to your face and a "wow, this sure is lifelike" signal to your brain. A few gunshots heard at the end of the movie proved to be so muted and subdued that they sounded like a pop gun, easily the worst part of this soundtrack. Otherwise, Untraceable offers up a solid, fun listen, one that at this point in the Blu-ray new release game is pretty much par for the course, and that, as they say, ain't bad.

Untraceable Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Fans of Untraceable won't be left searching for extra material online as Sony has graciously included a few extras on this disc. First is a commentary track with director Greg Hoblit, producer Hawk Koch, and production designer Paul Eads. Frankly, the commentary is a bit on the boring side, spending a good deal of time on the choice of Portland as the setting as well as the city's many unique locales that made filming there a joy. We only hear minor anecdotes about the kill scenes, such as what color to make the "heat lamp" scene. There are a few moments of dead air, which the participants gleefully poke fun at, admitting they got caught up in the movie. Unless you're a fan of the movie, I'd pass on listening to this one.

Tracking Untraceable (480p, 15:45) looks at the origins of the film, the background of its writers, the re-writes and polishing of the script that fleshed out the motivation of the killer, and assembling cast and crew. Untraceable: The Personnel Files (480p, 15:07) features the primary cast discussing their roles and working on the film. The Blueprint of Murder (480p, 13:32) examines the creation of the look and feel of the film, from the sets to the special effects, all on a lower-than-average budget. The Anatomy of Murder (480p, 5:44) is a behind-the-scenes look at the make-up used for the murder sequences.

Perhaps the best feature on the disc is a picture-in-picture (bonus view, profile 1.1) feature entitled Beyond the Cyber Bureau. Via a secondary video box displayed in the lower right hand corner, we see numerous interviews with the cast and crew discussing every aspect of the film. Participants are labeled, their name and position identifying them to the left of the box. We also see conceptual drawings, how shots are set up, and the application of make-up, for example. Frankly, I find the picture-in-picture features much more satisfying than your standard 10-15 minute features, such as some of the ones found on this disc. The integration of the special features right into the film makes the experience of watching them much more satisfying, especially when they correspond to each segment of the movie they play over. The disc is also BD-Live (profile 2.0) enabled, allowing viewers to go on-line to view additional content, at this time only trailers for upcoming Blu-ray and theatrical films (all from Sony, of course) were available. There is also an option to take a BD-Live survey at the time of publishing. Finally, 1080p trailers on the disc itself for Premonition, Perfect Stranger, Vacancy, We Own the Night, Vantage Point, and the usual Sony Blu-ray montage conclude the supplemental materials.

Untraceable Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of suspense movies who don't mind just a bit of gross-out imagery and with the ability to let slip by a few laughable moments will probably enjoy Untraceable just enough to have a good time at the movies. The story and the film's visuals are each strong enough to carry the picture. This is fortunate, because although I found the movie to be a good one, I thought the performances of the leads did not quite meet the requirements of the material. Although there have been a couple of Sony discs I haven't been pleased with, the studio generally puts out a great product, and this is yet another fine, but not perfect, release. It sports very good audio and video quality, both proving to be about what we should expect from a middle-of-the-road new release. The disc also features a good supplemental package, one that takes advantage of both Blu-ray 1.1 and 2.0 profiles. This is a solid package, one that fans will be thrilled with, and newcomers to the movie might want to give a shot. Recommended.