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Tortured
Cole Hauser, James Cromwell, Laurence Fishburne
Directed by Nolan H Lebovitz
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2008
107 minutes

Tortured is definitely not a DVD for the squeamish. This thriller has more flashbacks than scenes in the first thirty minutes so you might get seasick, and the torture scenes themselves are not for the faint of heart. This is a decent thriller in spite of itself.

There is a good story in Tortured and there are good performances by Cole Hauser and Laurence Fishburne, but they get lost in the opening jumble created by director Nolan H Lebovitz.

Cole Hauser plays Kevin Cole, an FBI agent who goes deep undercover in a criminal organization headed by the mysterious Ziggy. The viewer learns this gradually as Cole tortures Mr. Green (Laurence Fishburne) whom Ziggy believes stole 3 million dollars from him. Added to the pressure Cole may feel at being undercover the fact his father (James Cromwell) is the head of the FBI and Cole feels he has to prove himself all the time.

Who Mr. Green steal money is Ziggy really the? That is what the numerous flashbacks do to Tortured. By the time this thriller settles down for a brief moment, a viewer has lost a lot of interest. Adding to this loss of interest is the fact you automatically question how an FBI agent would accept, let alone be allowed, to torture another person just for the sake of an investigation.

The ending to Tortured is one hell of a twist. Is it warranted? That is another question.

What I failed to buy was how easily Cole’s partner (Jon Cryer) found the “big clue” when Cole had spent days in that same room.

It’s a shame such a good thriller got such a convoluted montage.