While it has some effective cinematography and nice-to-look-at high-tech, 'Untraceable' is nothing but a typical snuff thriller. The characters are all clichéd, unintelligent and, with the exception of Hanks's Griffin and Diane's Jennifer they lack dimension. The plot is predictable and uninteresting. The story suffers from too many plot holes. The ending is funny (though the director's intention was clearly something other than drawing laughter from the viewer). It's very funny how the director portrays all American internet surfers to be thirsty for a glimpse of torturous death. Among the plus points, Diane Lane performs well (but her character is the typical crime-fighting single mom/widow which one has seen in n number of movies. Colin Hanks gives a natural performance but one wonders why an actor of his calibre chose to play a less significant role in a below-average thriller. The same question applies to Ms. Lane. Billy Burke is abysmally wooden and his dialogue delivery is laughable especially when he swears. The swearing, while adding to another movie stereotype where the coppers swear a lot, feels too forced. Joseph Cross horribly plays the typical teen psycho. There's really nothing else to say. 'Untraceable' has nothing to offer. The only thriller concerning snuff movies that is of high quality is Amenabar's 'Tesis' and 'Untraceable' is nowhere near that.
Review of Untraceable
