. . . of a nation's populace being replaced by Demonic Doubles--capable of committing Ultimate Evil--one at a time. Everyone knows that this sort of thing happens occasionally in Real Life, such as in Hitler's Germany or Trump's USA. Years of bullying at West Point and other South-Centric Military Institutions gave Poe a strong sense of the impending Confederacy of Doomed Dimwits about to encompass his home state Virginia and its surrounding Red States. As Director Ellis documents during THE BROKEN, modern medicine can now detect such instances of Mass Delusion and Demonic Possession through X-Rays and Brain Scans. Ellis offers no hope for the weak-minded masses subject to "Capgras Syndrome," victims of which can mistake Red Commie KGB-promoted serial finger rapist TV Game Show Hosts for American Commanders-in-Chief. Whether it's Jeff Davis, Adolph Hitler, or Don Jun Rump spear-heading a Demonic Infestation, the implicit message of Poe and Ellis is to purify the populace with Bonfires of such Inanities. Though these miscreants may LOOK like Aunt Ethel, Uncle Fred, other family, friends, or colleagues, their current status as Rump enablers demand immediate termination with extreme prejudice.

Initially I thought this was going to be a psychological thriller involving doubles / doppelgangers, but it is more like a variation on the familiar "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" theme. In any case, Sean Ellis' direction is better than his script; the aerial shots of London, the super-slow-motion replays of a car crash, and the scenes where people appear "behind" mirrors are stunning. But the story takes too long to get anywhere, and when it does the "revelations" are fuzzy, if not a cheat. I like Lena Headey a lot as Sarah Connor in the Terminator TV series, but here she gives a mostly monotonous performance, and the other actors are in it too briefly to make much out of their roles. ** out of 4.

This film reminded me a lot of a 2009 film called Triangle. That also had a series of...memory blanks and...encounters with familiar people.But that film was linear. The magic was in seeing the mystery evolve before your eyes. Instead of revealing this 'altered reality' in a straight and follow-able fashion, this film goes for the toilet bowl. It just drops you in and spins and spins and never lets you get rooted in a character...a narrative...a place...anything.All you can do with The Broken is sit back and watch repeated flashback after repeated flashback until they finally just say "IT'S THIS," and you yawn back, "Okay." This aims for substance, but it's style kills the story. They build the mystery, but annoy you with it enough that the revelation just isn't worth something you'd never want to watch again.And I mention Triangle, because there are a good amount of similarities, but that's a film you want to watch 50 times. This is a film you might try to watch twice, because you just couldn't pay attention the first time.There isn't a good reason why this shouldn't be in the same class of psychological thriller as Black Swan and Triangle, but if I had to watch that car crash one more ******* time.....

A scary experience and a very unsettling film. I am quite surprised of the low rating of this movie here in the IMDb database (5.5 as of June 2012). The life of radiologist Gina McVey changes forever the night she organizes a surprise birthday party for her father. The changes are very subtle at first but there is this weird feeling that something is wrong. Gina begins to have suspicions of the behavior of some of the people close to her and makes the connection that the problem may be due to a concussion she suffered in a car accident.The reality however is more grim and we are taken by surprise from what Gina discovers in her search to clear things out. Mirrors are important in this film.The movie can be considered to belong to the horror genre although there is no gore and the violence is only suggested, not shown explicitly. Quite an experience and I would especially recommend it if you enjoyed the old British Hammer series. My rating: 8/10.