The Good: The general premise is interesting (would people visit a site if they knew that by doing so, they're killing the person they're watching?) and the murders are appropriately creative. Diane Lane does a good job, and is really better than this movie deserves.
The Bad: The killer is ultra-boring and completely unconvincing. This being a fairly lazy script, he has all the usual movie serial killer super powers - ninja speed / stealth, amazing IQ, seemingly unlimited and untraceable funds, etc. Also, you walk a fine line when your message seems to be "Look at how bloodthirsty these people are, turning torture and murder into entertainment" while your movie is basically doing the same thing.
The Ugly: Dude gets slowly cooked alive by heat lamps, with new ones turning on as more and more people watch online. Gooey then crispy.
Points Pondered
- From the second Colin Hanks opened his mouth, there was no doubt in my mind that he was not going to make it through the movie alive.
- This movie hopes its viewers don't know too much about computers. The ridiculousness of explanations for why they can't find this guy combined with the standard amazing movie-computer UI that can zoom in on video without degradation of quality grates a bit.
- If I was on the FBI cybercrimes task force, I would think about having my monitor with all sorts of sordid images NOT facing my door where my impressionable child can just walk by and see.
- The movie hits the one hour mark before the cops have made anything resembling progress on the case. They just stand around talking about how horrible it is as they watch him kill 3 people and a house pet. And when they DO finally get a break, it's never really explained how they figured out this bit of info. Oh well, cool murders!
No comments:
Post a Comment