Directed by Brad Anderson (Session 9) and released onto Netflix in 2019, Fractured is a psychological thriller film starring Sam Worthington. Ray (Worthington), his wife Joanne (Lily Rabe) and daughter Peri (Lucy Capri) are on their way home from a Thanksgiving dinner when they stop at a roadside rest stop, where, startled by a stray dog, Peri is injured and needs to be rushed to hospital. While Peri receives some tests, Ray falls asleep in the waiting room, and when he awakens, the hospital staff have no record of his family ever being checked in, leading Ray on a frantic search to find out what happened to them.
+ this is essentially a Sam Worthington solo piece, and your enjoyment will depend on whether you like Worthington; as an Australian I feel somewhat obliged, but he’s never been my top priority on the level of someone like Liam McIntyre, or the late Andy Whitfield (perhaps not surprisingly, the two actors to play Spartacus, i.e one of my favourite TV shows of all time). Nonetheless, I was impressed by him here, even if his accent (American?) was a bit wonky
+ the basic plot is nothing new (see: Flight Plan, Shutter Island, Memento etc.) but the progressions feels fresh and is intensely paced. The road to a twisty sort of ending eventually explains (almost!) everything, which is a godsend compared to my recently reviewed Wounds, another offering from Netflix
+ a couple of police officers show up, and they might just be the two most helpful police members you’ll ever see in a horror/thriller/whatever type of film. It was a very, very welcome change
– though the plot does eventually mostly make sense, as with many of these thrillers, there are too many false leads for my liking, but I guess that’s better than not enough. After I finished watching this, my viewing partner and I spent at least a solid hour going back and forth with what certain scenes or events were implying, and we came to ratio of about 3:1 for things that made sense to plot points left hanging
– my viewing partner also happens to be a theatre nurse, so she had a lot of things to say about aspects of the hospital, none of them particularly pleasant (this isn’t a real negative, please be nice)
Should you see this film: With no big stars (sorry Sam) and only a few locations explored, this was a very easy to watch, lots of fun to discuss thriller film. It may not blow your mind, and there are of course a few things that you’ll try to justify any way you can, but overall this hardly deserves the bad press I’m seeing in my travels. I enjoyed this, and you will too.
MoshFish Reviews 
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