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Lifting the veil
Fetal positions
Reviews
Untraceable
Delivering the goods, especially if you like to watch a man submerged in acid
By
MARK BAZER
|
January 23, 2008
UNTRACEABLE
2.5
Stars
VIDEO: Watch the trailer for
Untraceable
.
The least-satisfying detective stories tend to be about serial killers. The chase to prevent the next murder can thrill, but the killer’s ultimate motivation — he’s a psychopath — is pretty dull, no matter how monstrous or intricate his technique. That said, this film directed by Gregory Hoblit (
Primal Fear
) and starring Diane Lane is a smart, if gruesome, addition to the subgenre. Lane’s Jennifer Marsh is an FBI agent on the cyber-crimes beat, where the Internet is treated as the modern-day equivalent of the depraved streets detectives used to walk. Even she, however, is shocked by a new Web site featuring live executions — that is, if enough people log on. Despite knowing the consequences, people visit in droves, a cynical notion that has the film dipping into moral-lecture territory. But
Untraceable
does deliver the goods, especially if you like to watch a man submerged in acid.
100 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + suburbs
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