Rent Fractured (2013)

Fractured review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

I had tried very hard to go into my viewing of Fractured with an open mind, even working as a professional reviewer it is not easy to disregard the sinking feeling one gets when a synopsis mentions a hated actor or over-used genre; however, having recently been criticized for my over presumptive ness I made an active decision to seek out Fractured a film for which I had not had high hopes, and find as much joy and entertainment in it as possible.

To my astonishment there were a number of elements to the film that gave me pleasure, the supernatural twist to the otherwise obvious narrative was not only creative but chock full of potential, whilst the cinematography and atmosphere created by the combination of the visuals and music paints a gorgeous and deep noir setting; however the lack of characterization and scripting flaws, as well as the under utilized narrative twist left my hopes somewhat shattered.

Fractured is the story of Dylan White (Callum Blue) a seemingly bland and everyday chef living in New Orleans with his equally unimaginative girlfriend Brandy (Ashlynn Yennie), however a bloody and traumatic flashback during the middle of the night reveals that Dylan is in fact suffering from amnesia, his life a fabrication developed over the past few years after he awoke from an extended coma. As the tropes of your average “who-is-he-really” thriller dictate Dylan goes in search of his true identity, uncovering a number of dark secrets along the way.

As if his foray into the criminal underground, human trafficking and the mass murder of prostitutes were not enough however Dylan suspects that there are more to his flashbacks than your average memory. A discussion with a priest and his own capture and torture at the hands of his old boss, Quincy (Vinnie Jones), throw a spanner in the typical thriller narrative when Dylan is transported to a demon dimension where he is confronted by the devil and asked whether he will stand trial for his sins and be judged by God. Now for a fantasy nut such as myself this change in direction got me all riled up, however, noticing that we were more than half way through the picture at this point I knew that ultimately, I was going to be disappointed.

The God and devil judgements of Dylan, and later Quincy, are in themselves a little tortured; there is not enough time dedicated to setting up and explaining the dimension shifts whilst the aforementioned scripting failures make the entire endeavour both predictable and painful.

A real shame for those looking for a thriller with a bit of grit and personality Fractured is wildly uneven, offering some great atmosphere and narrative twists but failing to deliver on the characters who must move the story along.