Tortured (2007 Video) User Reviews

Absurd Thriller

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 6 December 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")

Decent entertaining 90 minutes

[rlange-3 · 7/10 · 11 January 2009]

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.

Tortured

[Geff · 7/10 · 28 September 2008]

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.

Not as bad as made out to be, not groundbreaking either.

[aimhighfilmz · 7/10 · 18 November 2008]

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.

Looking for Ziggy

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 9 February 2012]

Kevin Cole, an FBI agent, is asked the supreme sacrifice. He must endure torture in order to penetrate one of the most dangerous crime syndicates operating in America. Its leader is the elusive Ziggy, who has not been seen in quite some years. This man controls almost everything, or at least, one is led to believe in the Los Angeles area. Ziggy's henchmen put Kevin through the test through torture and intimidation, something he passes with flying colors.

Now, a few months later, he has a new name, Jimmy Vaughn. He is sent to torture and get information from Archie Green,an accountant that double crossed Ziggy. Green owes ten million dollars to the head of the group that he diverted when he worked for the man. Archie, a black man is put through the ringer. Jimmy goes on to torture Green, which includes pulling his finger nails and toe nails hoping to get a confession.

Kevin's present job as a criminal enforcer is not shared with his wife Becky. At the same time, his own father, Jack Cole, who is the head of the FBI, comes to keep track of what his son is doing to find Ziggy, hoping that Archie Green will break down to confess the whereabouts of a man that no one knows where he is. Jack Cole is interested because as a young agent, he himself had dealings with the criminal the FBI is after.

The trouble with "Tortured", written and directed by Nolan Lebovitz, is a sense of disorientation. Probably the creator wanted to keep the audience confused as the narrative goes back and forth not making clear what is behind the action. Frankly, once the secret comes out, it is hard to accept most of what has come before because it might make sense in the world of make believe the movies create, but in reality, not even the most brave FBI agents would endure what Kevin Cole does. Working undercover is one thing, to be beaten senselessly in order to penetrate a crime organization is too much to ask of anyone, but once the viewer overcomes that unreal experience, the film does entertain, although the ending is just hard to accept.

Cole Hauser seen in the double role of Kevin Cole and Jimmy Vaughn shows he has what it takes to penetrate the organization to get to Ziggy. Laurence Fishburne shows up as Archie Green the man that dared to steal from the terrible Ziggy. He has some good moments, but the actor has done better before. James Cromwell is seen as Jack Cole, a man with a dark past. Unfortunately, one does not get to see much of lovely Emmanuelle Chriqui, who plays Becky, Kevin's wife.

It appears "Tortured" went directly to DVD as we do not remember having heard about its commercial release.

Tragically Flawed

[FieldCannotBeLeftBlank · 3/10 · 5 May 2013]

This gets 3 because it has some decent acting and characterisation, and part of the plot is intriguing. It loses 7 because of the absurd parts of the plot. SPOILER=>

The FBI want to run a deep cover operation against a criminal mastermind, so who do they send in an attempt to covertly infiltrate this extremely security conscious, violent crime group: The son of the FBI Director!!!! Then at the same time as he is working deep undercover as a henchman, he also flies to Washington to meet with his dad, and attends FBI Black Tie functions at a local hotel.

Whilst undercover he commits several unlawful acts, such as torturing a captive, which I'm pretty sure is a no-no if you want to go to court with any of this.

Then the FBI Director/Dad gets directly involved in a high risk operation, with his undercover son, and decides to take a "rescued" informant directly (and illegally) to a private warehouse somehow giving the slip to the other 100 FBI agents, an act that would see him dismissed by the President in a heartbeat.

There are other annoyances, like how does a guy who rides a motorbike with no visible storage, keep arriving home with long-stemmed roses, Chinese food and a large undamaged pizza? How does an FBI agent spend seven days in a chamber torturing a guy, but not notice the loose drain cover that a colleague later spots in the first 5 seconds in the room. Why does a guy who is still supposed to be undercover personally identify himself as an FBI agent in full view of the camera that has (supposedly) watched his every act in that room for the past week?

Good little thriller

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 26 October 2008]

Cole Hauser is an under cover FBI agent deep in a criminal organization. Told to torture an accountant by his boss, the unseen Ziggy, to find out where several million dollars in missing money went, Cole starts to realize that things are not as they seem. Good little B movie that probably should have gotten some sort of theatrical release, though its small scale nature probably play better on the small screen. For the most part this is a tight little thriller that keeps things ratcheted up. Its the sort of film that makes you wonder why you hadn't heard of it before. If there is any flaw in the film its that the way the story shifts through time is more than a little confusing. More than once I wasn't sure when I was seeing. (I'm also out about Laurence Fishburne's performance, but that's another kettle of fish entirely ) Worth a bag of popcorn and a soda.

Between 6 and 7 out of 10

In the end, you'll feel like having wasted your time.

[CineCritic2517 · 1/10 · 30 September 2008]

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

Choices

[luthergreen · 7/10 · 16 July 2022]

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.

Tortured is what happened when I watched this stinker.

[mm-39 · 3/10 · 4 February 2009]

Why did they make this movie? Tortured was what happened when I watched this stinker! My wife and I rented this stinker off Video on Demand. When you rent a V O D you end up watching the whole thing. This movie could be the new weapon against terror. I would tell the guards anything after watching this movie 2 or 3 times! The only reason we rented this movie was Cole from Dazed and Confused was in this one. Tortured will torture Cole's acting career. No story and done on a low budget is the jest of this film. A straight for V O D for you. Please do not rent this movie a 3 out of 10. Well when the weather is an -30 you try to hard to find stuff to do at home. Well the Pizza we ordered was OK. mmm Pizza.

This should have been in theaters if it was't, and if it was should have been promoted better

[DaBombb316 · 9/10 · 28 November 2008]

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!!

COLE HAUSER IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS THRILLER

[lukem-52760 · 5/10 · 4 April 2021]

I saw this as i was once getting any dvds starring the underrated COLE HAUSER, a guy i really like in films but is often over looked or underused but i became a fan of his after "Pitch-black" & then he was the best character in "Tears of the Sun" & from there he popped up in The Fast & Furious sequel as a Cool bad guy villain & he was the best part of the Creature Feature "The Cave" & he was excellent in the lead role in the gripping Thriller "Paparazzi" the guy is such a good solid actor & presence & I'm a fan.

Here HAUSER stars in this ensemble B-movie Thriller about Torture!!! Hauser is an undercover F. B. I Agent who gets in deep in the darkness & gets mixed up with other corrupted characters & the plot goes all over the place & things come together in strange ways & all is revealed in a bizarre twist ending.

There's some gripping scenes of Torture & some suspenseful moments & some decent acting but it's definitely Cole Hauser's Performance that keeps it all together.

A decent enough watchable low-budget Thriller & worth it for the intense Cole Hauser.

Not so bad movie, but...

[devotee-2 · 4/10 · 3 June 2011]

I actually liked this movie. Not the best I saw but it was (somewhat) entertaining.

Of course there's a "but". I wish whoever designed the DVD cover is put in a vault an tortured for days ("a la" Mr. Green). Once you see that damn cover, you can make yourself an idea on how the plot will go. From the very beginning I could only think of why I had seen Laurence Fishburne (as Mr. Green) bruised and holding a gun on the cover of the DVD. Unfortunately, it was not a very hard guess.

I usually avoid watching movie trailers, as they are full of spoilers and some even disclose the whole plot. But now I can't even get a movie and watch its cover (or poster) for fear it might spoil it. Thank you guys.

I'm giving a 6 to the movie, and 1 to the DVD cover. That makes a total average of 3,5 which I'll round to 4.

Smart, brilliant, rare and underrated

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 17 July 2022]

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.