TV Review - Fractured (2019)

Brad Anderson is a filmmaker who's most known for his psychological thriller The Machinist (2004), a film that dealt with trauma, guilt and repressed memory. It was also about a car accident and the loss of a child and the consequences that would have on a man's psyche. Fifteen years later, Anderson has another script on his hands, this one by Alan B. McElroy, that appears to be dealing with the same thing. This film could be considered a spiritual sequel. This one isn't grappling with exactly the same themes and the production overall isn't as memorable as Anderson's 2004 cult classic. That 2004 flick had an incredible physical performance at the center of it where the actor, Oscar-nominee, Christian Bale, lost over 60 pounds and practically turned himself into a walking skeleton to portray that role. The actor in the center of this film isn't called upon to do something so intense and demanding. As such, it would be unfair to compare the two.

Sam Worthington (Avatar and Clash of the Titans) stars as Ray Monroe, a husband and father who is driving his wife and daughter across a thin, snowy road on his way to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving. He gets into an argument with his wife. When they stop at a gas station so that their daughter can use the restroom, something occurs and Ray's daughter is hurt, which causes Ray to rush his family to the nearest hospital. When he gets to the hospital, he thinks his wife has taken his daughter to go get some tests. He falls asleep in the waiting room. When he wakes up, his wife and daughter are missing. He can't find them. He then demands answers from the people in the hospital. When his family can't be found, he thinks there's some kind of nefarious plot going on in the hospital.

What follows is a paranoid pursuit of Ray to find his family. The hospital staff believes that he's crazy, but Ray thinks they're lying or hiding something. The whole film takes place all in one night, as things ping-pong back-and-forth over who could be telling the truth, Ray or the hospital. The script does enough to keep the audience guessing as to who could be right. Given the nature of how films work, you're always inclined to side with the protagonist who is Ray. Most might find the narrative here engaging. The question is what is the takeaway.

The film does seem to be wanting to say something about masculinity and the role men play. Ray as a character seems to be a man trying to figure out his role or live up to the role that he thinks he should play. It's not gender-specific that if one's family or loved ones disappear, one's role is to find them, perhaps at all cost, particularly if you think their lives are in danger. The question is how much of that is informed by the stereotypical, male, gender role that sees or demands that men be the provider, the hero or the tough guy that fights. There are things in this film that speak to that stereotypical gender role. Unfortunately, I think it gets muddled.

It gets muddled because at the same time this film is also dealing with mental illness or mental trauma, both physical and psychological. The mental trauma serves to try to underline the gender role issues here. It's a way of trying to amplify those issues. At the end of the day, one could also just dismiss those issues and say that this guy is insane or had a psychotic break.

Another possibility exists that this film is trying to comment or make some nightmare scenario out of America's healthcare system. There is a scene where Ray has to talk to a hospital administrator about his healthcare insurance and possible coverage that feels like the film laying down the groundwork for commentary on the whole healthcare issue being debated in national politics for the 2020 election. Beyond that one scene though, which is interesting in its isolation, not much more is done within the film to sell that as a compelling theme or issue here.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 40 mins.

Available on Netflix.