Review: 'Untraceable' thrills and chills
Posted Monday, May 12, 2008 at 8:19 PM Central
by John Couture
Voyeurism in movies is a theme that is as old as the genre itself. In fact, one might say that film is the ultimate voyeur's paradise. During one Saturday afternoon, someone can fight aliens, fall in love and play centerfield for the New York Yankees. Or at least, live vicariously these lives through film.
Some of the greatest movies of all time deal with the subject matter. Everyone from Hitchcock (Rear Window) to Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut) have put their stamp on the subject, but Untraceable is the first film to explore the relationship between voyeurism and murder where the audience is able to participate in the act.
At its best Untraceable captures the eerie aspects of the best suspenseful serial killer movies such as Seven and the social commentary of movies such as Arlington Road. At its worst, Untraceable stretches the bounds of the term suspension of disbelief. Working all day on the Internet, the whole concept of an "untraceable" website is laughable at best, but with the onset of technology and the handling of it in the movie, you learn to nod along.
Diane Lane and Colin Hanks are the real stars of the movie. Lane gives her usual high level performance which is key since she pretty much carries the entire movie on her own. The younger Hanks does admirable in his first big role dramatic piece. Not to sell the whole "Father and Son" parable too far, but his performance does show the same subtlety that his dad displayed when he made his transition to more serious work.
Overall, the movie delivers on both fronts that it tries to tackle. It is paced well and the suspense feels real and morbid. At the same time, the movie accomplishes its social criticism by showing what Barnum and Bailey learned so many years ago, people love to see a show. Over time, our tastes have changed, especially with the Internet explosion, and now taboo things are suddenly at out fingertips.
Of course, having easy access isn't necessarily a good thing and the movie really drives that point home.
SPECIAL FEATURES
At first glance, the four documentaries and commentary seem a little light in terms of special features, but once you experience them, you realize that the sum really is greater than the sum of its parts.
The commentary track includes director Gregory Hoblit, producer Hawk Koch and production designer Paul Eads. Overall, the commentary is pretty standard fare with a slight lean towards the technical side of things. Greg Hoblit isn't the most engaging commentator such as Kevin Smith, but the commentary track adds to overall experience.
Adding stars Diane Lane and Colin Hanks to the commentary track or giving them their own track would go a long way to completing the experience.
The four featurettes are really the backbone of the disc. They provide texture to the story and really allow the viewer to feel like they are behind the ropes so to speak.
"Tracking: Untraceable" is a robust behind-the-scenes feature that provides a general introduction to the film. It's a complete look at the scope of the movie while at the same time it zooms in on the minutiae of it.
"Untraceable: The Personnel Files" is a great feature on the cast. It's always great to learn how a cast comes together. In particular, the Colin Hanks segment shows how difficult it is to cast a movie, and yet when you nail it, the end result looks simple.
"The Blueprint of Murder" is a nice feature that sheds some light on the more technical areas of movie making. The set dressing was one aspect of the feature that stands out. It's probably the one area of movies that we take for granted, but set dressers take an empty set and turn it into what you see on screen. Their work is often taken for granted and the fact that you don't notice it is their biggest compliment. An FBI agent's desk doesn't stand out because it looks just like an FBI agent's desk should.
"The Anatomy of Murder" is a solid inclusion that displays the work of the makeup effects during the film's murder sequences. The attention to detail is something that really sells the scenes and helps to deliver a realistic movie. If the prosthetic doubles and makeup look fake then it takes the viewer out of the movie.
There are also previews included on the disc, but I find it hard to rate or comment on them because really they are only filler that add no additional content to the disc. They've also become outdated thanks to the onset of high definition.
BLU-RAY
This is our first opportunity to review a blu-ray disc for our site and we will always review the Blu-ray content separately from the rest of the offering. Everything before this section is also found on the DVD of Untraceable, so hopefully the Blu-ray reviews will serve a dual purpose until such a time as standard definition becomes obsolete.
The selling points of any Blu-ray disc is the high-definition picture and sound and extra features that can be packed on the higher capacity discs. The high-def picture is a good compliment at times, but given the grainy look of the movie one could argue that it's not necessary. I'm a huge fan of high-def and will never say that standard definition is good enough.
That being said, much like Seven, a large portion of the movie takes place in the dark or the rain of Portland. Having the darker blacks and crisper contrasts makes the grittiness really jump off of the screen.
The one exclusive feature to the Blu-ray disc is the picture-in-picture (PIP) extra entitled "Beyond the Cyber Bureau." This is the first such PIP feature that I've seen and I must say that I was impressed. Granted, a large portion of this extra is simply clips from the featurettes put into context, but there are also very specific comments from the cast and crew about certain scenes.
In addition, the PIP feature is filled with storyboards, stills and other superfluous things that you might've found on old DVDs. However, put into context of the scenes, the storyboards and stills help to tell the story. In particular, during the roller skating party scene, the PIP feature shows off the Wurlitzer organ and actual footage of the extras skating that were left on the cutting room floor.
Overall, the movie and added content make this a very compelling title to add to your personal collection. I will say that one thing I felt lacking in the offering was additional footage. Deleted and/or cut scenes are the reason that the DVD business really took off. There are allusions to scenes cut or chopped off during the commentary and features, so it would be nice if they saw the light of day.
Perhaps one day Sony will distribute them via the BD-Live feature that is included on the disc, but upon connecting to the Internet, you find that there is no additional content available for Untraceable.
Despite this omission, I still consider this movie one of the better suspense movies of the year and would make a stong addition to anyone's collection.
