Tortured

The FBI Agent Kevin Cole (Cole Hauser) works undercover under the identity of Jimmy Vaughn for the powerful drug lord Ziggy trying to find his new identity after many plastic surgeries. Jimmy is assigned to torture the accountant and family man Archie Green (Laurence Fishburne), accused of embezzling ten million dollars from Ziggy, but systematically denied by Archie. The sick torture affects the behavior of Kevin and his relationship with Becky (Emmanuelle Chriqui), who leaves him after years of marriage. But the agent keeps going on his dark mission to prove that he deserves to be promoted in FBI by his own merits and not because of the influence of his father and FBI Director Jack Cole (James Cromwell).

"Tortured" is an absurd and flawed thriller with a stupid story that explores torture, one of the favorite themes of Hollywood cinema in the present days. Cole Hauser and the cast have good performances, but the twist in the plot is unbelievably ridiculous and without sense and destroys what might have been a good thriller. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Torturado" ("Tortured")

Tortured is a mystery/thriller. The way it's presented is first-rate, and I wondered, where did this one come from? After it's all over, you have a feeling of having been had. I was entertained for the 90 minutes, but some plot changes would have made this a believable story. There are some gruesome torture scenes. It stars Cole Hauser, Laurence Fishburne, James Cromwell, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jon Cryer, and James Denton. Laurence Fishburne is wasted in the role. Jon Cryer seems miscast. James Cromwell is doing his LA Cofidential role, poorly. Emmanuelle Chriqui is extremely sexy. And James Denton seems like he's on loan from Desperate Housewives. The title, Tortured, lends itself to a joke, but I was mildly entertained by this one. It needed better acting and a better story. It's just too unbelievable.

Great movie that everyone should watch. Sometimes people lose the ones they care about because of situations that they are placed in. A person must contemplate what's best for the future generation while leaving thier emotional side out of the equation. Because in every category of the situation such as Tortured no one comes out on top, however at the end of the day we have to look at it as, did we help the future generation.

Such a shame that this film was only for DVD market or at best TV. But I guess that in movie theaters, audiences, silly audiences craving for super f... heroes would not have followed; too much complicated whilst eating their popcorn...So this scheme reminds me other from the early 2000's, speaking of terrorists and agents in charge to fight them/ THE TORTURER, UNTHINKABLE, showing ambivalent characters in unusual schemes, where audiences, smart ones, had to think after viewing. Maybe the US movie industry wishes to denounce the Guantanamo syndrom here, with ISIS prisoners tortured...Maybe, but that's my own opinion. This one is not really about terrorists, but the overall scheme, ingenious plot, is really worth viewing. Do not expect good vs bad guys, it will be more complex than this. Early 2000s was the period for this kind of films, as was also the "lockdown" plots in the line of RESERVOIR DOGS, SAW and so on. Larry Fishburn is not always convincing as the tortured man, I mean not his performance, but for a tortured man, he woud have needed more make up, instead of this smooth and good fed face. Chubby face for a supposed starving man. One element borrowed from USUAL SUSPECTS.

Good casting, good acting, intriguing characters, very good pacing all make this an entertaining movie to watch. There is competency and cold blooded efficiency on both sides which one would expect from a top notch operation, and none of the intrusive hyped up dialogue that infests many serious crime movies. None of the actors is weak, with Robert La Sardo particularly impressive in a secondary role. Emmanuelle Chriqui manages to exude sex appeal without a descent into tawdry, and the psychiatrist manages to come off as a solid character and asset to the film.

All of this is gradually undermined as the move progresses and the plot unfolds. Although the twists and turns keep things interesting, the major direction becomes increasingly predictable and unfortunately increasingly implausible. It wasn't enough to ruin the movie but it certainly kept it from climbing out of a high midrange rating.