Shattered - Gioco mortale

When their happy lifestyle is suddenly interrupted and turned upside down by the forceful intrusion of a menacing kidnapper (Brosnan), Abby and Neil (Bello and Butler) are left with no choice but to follow the increasingly difficult demands and tests set them by this man. It's edge-of-the-seat stuff most of the way, with plenty of twists and turns and even when you get to that stage where you think you know all the answers, something else catches you off guard. The three leading actors all provide sound performances in this intelligent, edgy little thriller, with Brosnan proving yet again, because a lot of people seem not to have realised it before, that he really can act.

The producers of BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL (a/k/a SHATTERED in U.S.), didn't have enough faith in their project to seek widespread theatrical distribution of the finished film--even though it had GERARD BUTLER fresh from his box-office triumph in "300". Instead, they went a more direct route--directly to TV on TNT, which seems more like a last resort. Once again, a Gerard Butler film with limited distribution even though co-starred with PIERCE BROSNAN and MARIA BELLO.

Seeing it on TNT, it's understandable that the film had some problems in connecting with a larger audience. Brosnan's villain is below par for the actor and Butler has done better work elsewhere although he gives all his energy to the role of a distraught husband.

The plot is an elaborate cat-and-mouse game that Brosnan plays with the unlucky couple, Butler and Bello. While it does generate a certain amount of suspense, Brosnan's character remains an enigma for almost the whole story. Never once do we get a hint of why he's going to such extremes to torture the couple by demanding that they perform tasks at his bidding. A grungy looking Brosnan makes the villain a very unappetizing psychotic and we're never quite sure about Butler either, an ad agency man who gradually loses his swaggering overconfident manner.

Without giving away more of the plot (except to say that there is a mildly interesting twist toward the end followed by a double twist), the whole thing plays more like a made-for-TV movie than an actual film because none of the characters are more than one-dimensional despite the good acting. And the final scene between Butler and Bello is totally unbelievable as to motivation.

Summing up: Basically tricky and shallow at the core.

This movie is the equivalent of shattering an already broken mirror. We are introduced to the happy, functioning family: Father's successful and climbing the corporate ladder in the advertising industry, while mom stays at home and takes care of cute-as-a-cupcake daughter. All is well...

(if you are really intent on going through the dissatisfaction of watching this movie and are as thick as brick, you shouldn't read any further)

...But right from the start we see father weaseling his way to the top, egotistically snatching away his colleagues' well deserved moment to shine from under their noses. We see father exchange an all too obvious glance with his secretary. We see mom holding a camera and longingly looking at photos she once took. We can overhear a conversation between mom and dad's secretary that seems casual, but carries the promise of becoming significant later on in the movie all too obviously.

If the writer or director - I'm guessing these are directorial decisions - had done a better job at concealing the cracks in the foundation of the perfect family-life facade in the beginning, maybe the shattered dreams at the end would have packed a slightly bigger punch. But half way into the movie we give up on the chance of this becoming anything remotely worth wile. And we masochistically watch the plot unfolding in more and more implausible ways, as the characters (read: plot-devices) propel it to its breathtakingly uninteresting, and actually insulting ending. Ultimately the only thing this movie shatters, is the audience's hope of seeing an intelligent and entertaining movie.

Abby (Maria Bello) and Neil Randall (Gerard Butler) seems to be the perfect couple in Chicago with a lovely daughter. He's climbing the corporate ladder. Neil is going to spend the weekend with his boss. Abby is going to see her sister Diane. They hire Helen Schriver from the agency to babysit Sophie for the night. On the drive to Diane, mysterious Tom Ryan (Pierce Brosnan) comes out of the backseat with a gun and news that Helen has already kidnapped their child. He starts telling them what to do like withdrawing all their cash but he throws it all into the river. He tells them to do what they're told for 24 hours and they'll have their girl back.

There is a lot of unnecessary breathlessness and yelling overacting. It's all intended to raise the tension, but it's too much of a movie thing. Gerard Butler is pushing too hard. His energy diffuses the tension rather than raise it. Quiet anger would be so much more effective. Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello are a little better. He does menace well and she's the loving wife. This has the potential for a good 3-person morality play, but director Mike Barker works overtime to pump up the artificial thrills. I was interested in the mystery of the true nature of the story, but I didn't particularly care about the people. The twist ending is fine but it needed a few more breadcrumbs laid out along the way. More hints about the ending would have made the ending more compelling.

A happy marriage formed by Neil Randall (Gerard Butler), executive of an advertisement agency and his spouse, Abby (Maria Bello) have the perfect existence and an early life in Chicago. With their lively young daughter, named Sophie, they are living the American dream . When the daughter is suddenly kidnapped, they have no choice but to execute with the kidnapper's demands who appears with a gun on the backseat of their car. The abductor named Ryan (Pierce Brosnan), a calculating and cold psychopath, takes over their lives with the cruel efficiency of someone who has nothing to lose. Over the next twenty-four hours they are at the mercy of a criminal who wants only one thing, that they do his orders. It soon becomes clear that Tom's demands are all the more horrifying because he doesn't wish their money that is burnt.

This exciting picture is packed with suspense, thrills, mystery,tension and extraordinary plot twists.Tense and stirring film with a moving race against time. This Hichcockian movie deals about a successful executive and wife when their daughter is taken hostage and suffer a brutal blackmail. Gripping, original action movie with the main actors desperately trying to find out the means avoid his daughter to be murdered. Excellent thriller full of intrigue and tense, this is a fast-paced, stylized action-suspense film. The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as the clock ticks ever close for killing the daughter. The tale appear to unfold in real time and most unusual is the device of having the victim play desperado and hunt the killers, and saving his daughter , as time runs out. Casting is frankly magnificent, Gerard Butler as tormented father, Maria Bello as affected mummy and Pierce Brosnan, also producer, takes honors as a sociopath who attempts to turn the tables on the victim before he can free his daughter. Adequate musical score accompanying the action by Robert Duncan and inventively photographed by Ashley Rowe. The motion picture is stunningly directed by Mike Binder. He's a nice director working usually for television as ¨Moby Dick¨, ¨Sea wolf¨ ,¨Lorna Doone¨ and occasionally for cinema as ¨A good woman¨, ¨To kill a king¨ and of course ¨Butterfly on a wheel¨ his best movie. Rating : Good film, above average and worthwhile watching .