(3.5 out of 5 stars)

Maybe you thought Saw was sick; a sadistic killer wanting to torture people to make them pay for their own crimes. Maybe you thought Hostel took the genre to a new sick level where people pay money to get the thrill to torture people. Untraceable does this horrifying genre some justice by showing us that by watching this sadistic media, we are just as bad as the killers themselves.

This movie makes an impact and for that reason alone, this movie gets a high rating, although oddly enough, I do not recommend it. Why put yourself through the torture of watching this disturbing stuff? By watching this movie, maybe you will question what you watch on TV, at the movies and on the internet. Realize that by watching this genre, you are only promoting it and letting it live on. When you become disinterested, it will go away. This also relates to the degrading material of pornography on the internet. If we stop watching, the industry will slowly die away. Unfortunately, pornography will likely live on, but maybe we can take a stance now and get rid of this torture porn genre of storytelling.

But wait, you thought this was a movie review…well, ok, but I could not do this movie justice without using the soapbox, this movie brings you to that sort of conclusion. Untraceable is well made, although you realize that the killer is truly untraceable so the ending must be a victim outsmarting the killer. Diane Lane plays the FBI agent who makes her living tracking down cyber terrorism and unlawful websites. Colin Hanks plays her co-worker and other unknowns play other agents, the killer, and relatives. Diane Lane carries this movie and does a great job. Colin Hanks also shows he has potential to be a leading man in the future.

The script is also exceptional. The writer uses the words of the killer to not only make you sympathetic to his obvious mental problem, but also to tell you how this kind of thing has gone on far enough. The killer named Owen Reilley says this to one of his victims; [watching his victim in a tub filling up with acid] “You know if no one was watching right now, you'd just be sitting in water. But the whole world wants to watch you die, and they don't even know you.” You see the killer’s way of torturing his victims is by putting them in a torture situation, but allowing increases in web hits to accelerate the death. In all reality, if no one looked at the website, no one would die.

The movie ends with the website running and the message boards flowing with four distinct messages on the boards : SPOILER ALERT “Pussy, Got beat up by a woman;” “A genius died today;” “thank god he’s dead;” and “how can I download this video?” This sums up the movie and the morality of the world today. This is the impact this movie makes and let’s hope that the movie’s message does not become untraceable within our society, but as this movie proves, the message is likely already lost.

Similar recommended titles: “Stay Alive”, “Saw”