Review of Shattered

Shattered (1991)
6/10
Shattered writing, but still holds you until the end!
6 October 2023
This psychological thriller starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins, & Greta Scacchi is sort of a mixed experience with highs and lows. The highs being your typical suspense that you get from most thrillers, such as car chases, mysterious murders, and good old-fashioned amnesia or loss of memory to the point your main character is broken and must crawl their way back to the truth. But, by this movies end, you mostly want to throw your hands up and ask yourself "Was that the best twist you can come up with?" Or better yet, is "That the best you can come up with?" Believe me when I say I ran both scenarios through my head, and I'm still puzzled by the end to the point I find I preposterous but amusingly accepting.

The performances here are banal or serving to the script written by Richard Neely and Wolfgang himself. The standout is Bob Hoskins, who plays the Sua Sponte cautious private tracker (Gus Klein) hired by Tom Berenger (Dan Merrick) to look into his past for clues to piece together his broken memory. His wife (Judith Merrick) played by Greta Scacchi does her best to keep her husband's sanity. Like I said, the typical roles for such tried and tired writing, that by the end of the film you will get the story and if not for the reveal, you might see this as a big yawn fest.

The story however has good beats that keep the engine chugging along. From a single car accident off the side of a mountain to the dark depths of an abandoned ship on the beach make up for some interesting set pieces and stages tension with a minacious direction. The score, set designs, costumes, and stunts round out what you would think are adequate for a movie such as this. They don't make them like they used to where movies with mild budgets between 20-60 million dollars was just enough to get people in the theater.

I'd say getting to see this for free, was well worth a watch.

6/10.
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