Tortured: Review By Fallenlords

The story is well told and uses many flashback moments, but these are done well. In a lot of films you can almost get lost because of the sporadic flashback moments, but these flashbacks do add to the film and not detract.

The acting is good and it stars some well-known actors, Laurence Fishburn, James Cromwell with Cole Hauser as Kevin in the lead part.

Kevin is an undercover agent for the FBI who is trying to break a criminal organisation run by the infamous Ziggy. This is a man who changes his face by cosmetic surgery as often as he changes his underwear. Well perhaps not that often.

The criminal organisation Ziggy has built is well organised and brutal. As an initiation into the organisation recruits undergo a lengthy bout of torture, to prove they have the right stuff to become on of Ziggy’s men. Nobody see’s Ziggy, they just get their orders through phone calls and special delivery packages. Ziggy hasn’t been seen in years, so tracking him down is almost like trying to catch a ghost.

When Kevin passes his initiation and becomes one of Ziggy’s men. He is given a morale dilemma. An accountant that has stolen money from Ziggy is placed in the torture room and Kevin is the one who has been selected to dole out the punishment. He has a choice, torture a possibly innocent man to get to Ziggy or hold to his convictions as an FBI operative. It is interesting to see how his torture previously influences his choices.

There is a big issue with this film, that doesn’t revolve around plot, directing or acting. It involves casting. When you consider the cast and the parts they play, it does not take a genius to work this thriller out. The casting to my mind was a mistake and although they had the names, the names are what spoil this film. If it had been unknowns in the parts to an extent, it would have been harder to work things out overall. That aside is in intriguing enough to keep you watching to see how things pan out.