Into the Blu

Untraceable

Author Bill Geiger on August 30th, 2008

Untraceable Cover Art

There are so many movies that get released; sometimes people will question why they even get released in the first place. I know I have done it myself. In regards to this film, Untraceable, I am more than sure someone asked the same question. Given its negative reviews, it is hard to go into viewing the film with a positive opinion. However, that is why you should watch the film yourself and be the judge.

Untraceable follows Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) and Griffin (Colin Hanks) who are FBI agents that work within the internet department of the FBI. They hunt down those that use the internet for their own personal cybercrime playground. Thinking they have seen it all numerous times, they are presented with something they never could have imagined. Someone has set up an internet site that shows murders taking place in real time.

No matter what they try and do, they are unable to locate where this is all taking place. The IP addresses continuously change allowing for the carnage to continue. It is a race against time to find the mastermind behind this and bring him down before he can kill again.

A story like this is nothing new and just doing a quick internet search will tell you there have been many movies involving the internet and murder. What is interesting about Untraceable is the way the murders occur. It really takes a sick mind to come up with some of the ways people are killed in the film but at the same time, it is interesting. You really need to suspend disbelief. If you can do that, watching the film makes it much easier. People tend to forget that the reason we watch films is to be entertained and see the unbelievable become believable.

The acting wasn’t too great though. I mean, these people work for the FBI and they are dumb enough to play into the masterminds plan even though it is painfully obvious? E when it is known for sure that if they do something that would publicize the events taking place, it would cause another murder, and they do it anyway. Just stupid!

So yes, the film is both insulting and entertaining at the same time.

Video

The 1080p High Definition transfer for Untraceable is pretty substandard. Prior to viewing the film, I had heard that the transfer was not all it should have been. I experienced the softness of the picture in many of the scenes backgrounds. Mind you, the background was only about a foot away and the picture was just blurry. Best example is when you seem Diane Lane character and right behind her is a set of manuals with numbers and letters on them and I really had a tough time looking at that due to the softness.

The 2.40:1 image leaves a lot to be desired. I didn’t notice any grain that would distract me, but the colors were pretty much muted and flat. Sure, the film is shot in Portland, Oregon and it can be dreary weather, but why match the picture with the weather. Dreary can be beautiful if you want it to be.

Audio

The audio presented on this Blu-ray is Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound in both English and French. Standard Dolby 5.1 is available in Spanish and Portuguese. The 5.1 TrueHD English track is what I used and I really wasn’t too impressed with it. Surrounds were active and bass was used a fair amount but I found the sound to be a bit on the low side. Mind you, this was not throughout the entire film. There were sections where the surrounds were pretty decent but other times I was just left wanting more.

Special Features

Untraceable comes with a boat load of extras. Here is a list and a brief description of what is in store for you.

Audio commentary with the Director, Producer and Production Designer

Tracking Untraceable: Behind the Scenes
- This basically goes through the findings of the directors, person to edit the script and how they went about using the FBI in the filming.

Untraceable: The Personnel Files: Cast and Crew
- This is a fluff piece where everyone says everyone was perfect for the film.

The Blueprint of Murder: Making-of
- This is a featurette where the design and structure of the set is discussed as well as how the film was to be shot and where.

The Anatomy of Murder: Make-Up Special Effects
- This shows what went into the film to make all of the murder scenes look the way they did.

Also included is the Blu-ray exclusive Bonus View picture in picture feature you can view while you watch the film.

Final Thoughts

Going into viewing Untraceable, I had low expectations just by what I had read about in reviews of the film. So, that was a good thing because I didn’t hate the film. Mind you, how things happened and why may have been truly far-fetched but the film was entertaining. It ran probably a little longer than it needed to but I came out of it with a higher opinion than I did going in.

I tend to not go 100% with what others say as I prefer to judge for myself. The film won’t win any awards but it truly isn’t as bad as most will make it out to be.

As far as my recommendation, I say give it a rental. If you like to collect movies, you can easily find this for cheap at Amazon or Half.com.