Parents' Guide to Fractured

This decent thriller does an excellent job of playing on the sympathies of the audience. As the lead character Ray, Sam Worthington comes off as a relatable enough Middle-Aged Everyman trying to protect his family in the face of what appears to be a cold hospital bureaucracy. As the story moves deeper into the mystery, and as Ray grows increasingly desperate in his search for his missing wife and child, it's only natural to root for him as he fights back, even if Ray's perception of reality isn't exactly what's happening.

Which leads to the problem with Fractured. Ray's perception of reality is so much more interesting than the actual story, that, as much as one might root for Ray and his family, you find yourself rooting instead for a surreal external dark parody of American health care as opposed to a resolution that ultimately feels contrived and disappointing. While the ending is unsettling and somewhat disturbing, it's also an ending that seems so obvious, it's easy to feel like a sucker for ever thinking it would be any other way. In spite of this, Fractured is an eerily entertaining journey, even if the final destination isn't a dark-mirrored Twilight Zone.