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With a maze of plot twists and surprises, "Shattered" is one heck of a guesser.

The plot follows Dan Merrick (Tom Berenger) after a horrifying car accident. He suffers from amnesia, and must piece his life together post-accident. As he learns more and more about his past, his life spins out of control, leaving the most horrifying revelation for the end.

"Shattered" is carefully constructed and directed by Wolfgang Peterson. His cast really brings this one together, with great performances by Berenger and Bob Hoskins. It is simply impossible to guess the events in this film as you are watching it, and it is best to go into it knowing as little as possible.

"Shattered" is an excellent effort and film that has been wrongly ignored over the years since its release. This is a great rental for a cold and rainy Saturday night.

Grade: A

Pretty clever mystery that will leave you gasping when the shocking twist is revealed. Tightly woven together, Wolfgang Peterson delivers a smart story about Dan Merrick, a San Francisco businessman who can't remember his past after surviving a horrific car crash. While recovering at his lovely secluded home, Dan discovers his adoring wife Judith, played by Greta Scacchi, is cheating with another man. Dan sets forth to discover that all is not what is seems to be. Bob Hoskins as Gus, the pet shop owner / part time private eye, gives a wonderful performance as well as Joanne Whalley, who knows much more than she ever wanted to know about Dan. Slick scoring by Alan Silvestri, knock out sets, and direction make this mystery / thriller a winner!

After surviving a car crash, real estate developer Dan Merrick (Tom Berenger) finds himself with Amnesia and begins to begin rebuilding his life with the help of his wife Judith (Greta Scacchi). As Dan examines the pieces of a life he can no longer remember and people he no longer knows his path crosses private investigator Gus Klein (Bob Hoskins) who reveals Dan's life may hide darker secrets.

Part of a wave of films in the 90s that tired to be updates on Hitchcockian suspense thrillers (Final Analysis, A Perfect Murder, etc.), Shattered was released to middling reviews and lackluster box office most likely due in no small part to having the misfortune of being released less than two months after very similar (and much more financially successful) Dead Again. And while Dead Again is objectively a stronger film on the whole, Shattered still deserves credit for being a smart thriller with engaging performances and a genuine sense of style and suspense.

Berenger is quite good as Dan Merrick and makes for a convincing everyman who tries to determine who can and cannot be trusted as he tries to piece together a mystery whose clues he can't seem to make sense of. Greta Scacchi is equally good as Dan's wife Judith and does a great job serving as a Hitchcock type enigma. But easily the best performance is Bob Hoskins as Private Investigator Gus Klein, a cynical, misanthropic, animal lover who commands the screen every time he's on camera.

The narrative is solid in terms of it's structure and Wolfgang Petersen's direction and writing effortlessly come together to create the needed amount of intrigue and engagement expected in a film of this ilk. Throughout the first half of the movie we (the audience) are very much in Dan's shoes following down every lead as he finds them with answers leading to more questions. To say anymore would be to spoil the movie, the ending it builds up to is suitably twisty and surprising but whether it strains credibility will be dependent on the person who watches it.

Shattered is a well made thriller with good performances and an intrigue rich hook. The film for the most part successfully emulates all the tricks and trappings familiar to Hitchcock's films and while it doesn't quite stick the landing for its ending (at least for me personally), it is still a solid thriller that'll keep you engaged til the end.

Wolfgang Petersen (Poseidon & the Neverending Story)'s Neo Noir starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins, and Greta Scacchi about a West Coast developer who has amnesia after a car accident and begins to suspect his wife of treachery.

This begins in a pretty mundane way. It runs like any one of thousands of films of the early 1990's, and there doesn't appear to be anything special about it until you get a little bit of the way into it. Roughly one third through, you begin to see the subtle idiosyncrasies of this work, and soon, you are wholly absorbed.

This features some great intrigues, a nice well paced plot, and a really twisty ending. Dialog delivery isn't as bad as you might expect, and the story itself steals the show. Camera angles are a bit odd at times, but nothing like some of those 1970's flicks!

All in all, though it was done as recently as 1991, it is horribly dated but I was still completely entertained by this film, and while it's not Friday-Saturday night quality, it makes for a great Saturday or Sunday afternoon diversion.

It rates a 7.6/10 from...

the Fiend :.

This movie has got to be the best surprise I've ever gotten from a last second pick at the video store. The first time I saw this movie was in college, we watched it one night and it continued to be shown in our apartment almost non-stop for the next 4 days. People could not get enough of it.

I won't go into the plot, etc. but will tell you it offers many twists and turns and will keep you interested and surprised at the end.

You cannot go wrong renting this movie!