UNTRACEABLE Directed by Gregory Hoblit. 100 minutes. Opens Friday (January 25). Rating: NN
UNTRACEABLE exploits our fears about online voyeurism, cyber sickos and torture porn and makes them spread like a Trojan virus. Diane Lane plays an FBI agent hired to catch a serial killer who sets up his victims to die quicker the more hits his website gets. Lane adds class to the proceedings, but she’s surrounded by types, not characters. You can trace the film’s problems to a formulaic script and director Gregory Hoblit’s overreliance on grossout scenes. Some clever themes emerge, but otherwise the film’s cluttered with predictable pop-up plot points that you can’t close. And there’s no way Portland’s that dark and rainy.