If
Martyrs was torture porn as informed
by millennial theology, this would be the equivalent for the secular faith so
many place in UFOs and fringe conspiracy theories. When a shadowy cabal abducts
and tortures a single mother, they do so for the sake of what they consider the
greater good. Isn’t that always the case? However, their latest victim will be
surprisingly resourceful in Steven Shainberg’s Rupture (trailer
here),
which opens this Friday in New York.
Renee
Morgan is pretty cool for a mom, but her ex is a big jerkweed, so their son is
a bit confused. She had planned to go skydiving with friends as an exercise in empowerment,
but winds up in a life and death struggle instead. As the victim of a highly-organized
kidnapping, Morgan finds herself captive in a grungy, dungeon-like laboratory,
where the evil people in lab coats and business suits try to get her to “rupture”
through drug treatments and scare tactics, a la the rats in 1984 (its spiders for Morgan).
Just
what it means to rupture is sort of a secret, but it is safe to say it would
profoundly alter Morgan’s nature and identity. Regardless, she would prefer not
to stick around to find out. Her mothering instincts override everything, as we
can easily believe. However, we would also expect her drive to reunite with her
son to bring out more of a killer instinct as well, but Morgan is strangely
well-behaved during her escapes into the ventilation ducts.
In
other hands, Rupture could have been
far more torture-focused, so Shainberg’s restraint, so to speak, is
appreciated. The top shelf cast also helps immensely. Noomi Rapace does some of
her best work since the Lisbeth Salander trilogy as the resilient Morgan,
making her both resolute and vulnerable. Michael Chiklis, Kerry Bishé, Lesley Manville,
and Peter Stormare bring more color and variation to her tormentors than you
would expect. Even if it is not spectacularly original, the lab-lair is still a
creepily effective setting.
