Diane Lane’s career has been something of a roller coaster since she last wowed audiences with her fearless sexual oomph in Adrian Lyne’s “Unfaithful,” but she can always be relied upon to lift even the most horrid material. Her latest film “Untraceable” fits not-so-nicely into that category, because no matter how hard she tries, things just become more and more tangled up in a tedious web of “Been there, done that” sadomasochism. I mean, how much can director Gregory Hoblit (“Fracture”) really expect from a bunch of “Saw” and “Hostel” cast-offs?
Despite Lane’s presence, everything about this movie felt lazy and uninspired to the point of near-unwatchability. Somehow, the idea of a cyber-sadist using a supposedly undetectable web site to watch his victims die doesn’t quite cut it for me, so before you get too excited, think about the plenitude of better films available and make a financially wise decision.
- ** out of 4
“Vantage Point” is kind of a mixed bag. It has a spirited array of slickly composed chase scenes and worthy performances, but the chance of gaining any palpable insight into the plot is lost amidst all the painstaking repetition. Every time we think that the motivation for bombing will be revealed, the camera cuts away in a “Memento”-esque fashion only to never rise to that elite level of precision.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed much of what was happening, but after the 5th or 6th rewind, I was hoping for a real stunner and wasn’t given one. So much time is spent trying to look cutting edge that too many loose ends are left untied, so while Pete Travis’s film is visually exciting, something was definitely missing in action.
- ** ½ out of 4
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