Tortured (2008)

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")

Pros: enough twists and turns with that dash of suspense and drama to keep someone loaded on Thanksgiving dinner awake for the entire film.Cons: Flashbacks (jumping from the current day back to 6 months before), no closure If you don't mind flashbacks, this is a pretty good movie. The actors in it play their typical roles I felt, which made it a little easier to predict the ending than I would have liked. I do not want to go into any details, so if I sound too vague I apologize.Starting the movie after 2am, I figured I would be bored and fall asleep quite quickly. I was caught off guard by the film, because I had not read anything going into it. It had pretty much all of the necessary elements to satisfy my movie craving...action (the torturing and shooting), suspense (is he telling the truth or not, who is bad, who is good), drama (will she stay or go, will he keep his job or not), and a few twists that I did not see coming (maybe because it was almost 3am).I would highly recommend this movie to most of the people I know.I hope there is a second one to provide a little closure to the movie!!

There are films with better plots, and less obvious devices, but what made me continue to watch this film was Cole Hauser. I have seen him in other films as the cocky cop, or the cocky tough guy, but it was nice to see him in a more challenging role. I certainly don't think its award worthy, but I do think that it shows a different side of his abilities, and it may allow him to pursue more dramatic roles in the future. Lawrence Fishbourne and James Cromwell are good enough in their respective roles, but they are both incredible actors and it seems like this film offers them little challenge. Overall the film is worth a rent or a place on your Netflix list.

There is really very little to say about this low budget thriller besides what is obvious considering the title of this little review; 'Tortured' is a complete waste of time.Lawrence Fishbourn likes to play in unconvincing movies where some torture is involved. In '5 Fingers' from 2006 it is he who is giving away the torture, in 'Tortured' the roles appear to have been switched. There's occasionally some fine acting and even the screenplay and score isn't half bad. But what someone else called 'unbelievable' I would personally describe as preposterous. It is the ending.Obviously I cannot go into it in detail for it would spoil it for those that chose to ignore this warning, not that there is a lot to spoil which wont spoil itself as you watch this story unfold.Suffice to say; if you like your movies with a hint of credibility to it, with some form of logical resolution, please do yourself a favor and avoid this one.1/10