Archive

Diane Lane: unflinching in “Untraceable”

All together now. Let’s picture

Diane Lane.

Good job. I promise not to tell anyone what you pictured Diane Lane doing. Now, let’s picture Diane Lane with a gun.

Oh yeah, baby. Um, I mean, well done. If that was as good for you as it was for me, you’ll be happy to know that Lane’s new movie, Untraceable, will be in theaters January 25. And yes, she has a gun.

She also appears to have a little something on her mouth. (Yes, that’s really part of the poster.)

How much would you pay to be that pointer icon? Sigh. Anyway, in Untraceable, which also stars Colin Hanks and Billy Burke, Lane plays FBI agent and cyber-crime specialist Jennifer Marsh. Her newest case has a twist — a serial killer streams graphic murders live on his website and determines how quickly his victims die according to the number of hits to the site. The trailer is, well, killer.

If you’re nerdy like me, your second thought (after the one about how hot Diane looks) is, “Pshaw — no such thing as an untraceable website.” Well, maybe. In this case, the killer has set up his many IP addresses to change on a regular basis. So yes, eventually the FBI would find all of the sources and track them back to the owner, but it could take weeks or months. Untraceable‘s director, Gregory Hoblit, worked closely with former FBI Special Agent E.J. Hilbert to make sure the film is as accurate as possible. Hilbert has addressed some questions on Untraceable‘s IMDb message board, if you want to know more. (You may have to register for access to the thread.) Lane actually worked with a current female agent, “Jane,” to get some experience with how the FBI targets Internet criminals.

“Jane took Diane over there [to her FBI branch] and put her in front of some guy who screened himself live as a 13-year-old,” Hoblit said. “She got him to come into Portland and she had him set up; they knew he was coming. Diane came back and said, ‘I can’t believe, it, I just ruined two lives today.’ She got two of these guys in one day.”

OK, to tell the truth, I’m still a little skeptical. But I’m just tech-savvy enough to be dangerous, so, for now, I will take Mr. Hilbert’s word that Untraceable

is feasible. What is more interesting to me, however, is the exploration of the public’s fascination with sensationalism — even when a life is at stake. I like to think that my sense of morality would quell my curiosity, but I sure wouldn’t trust the general public to determine my fate.

How do you feel about this movie? Do you think it’s plausible? Would people flock to a website to see people get killed? And is it worth suspending disbelief to see Diane Lane in a kick-butt role like this?

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button