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.

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.

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 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.