Shuttle - L'ultima Corsa Verso L'Oscurità

Interesting from the start, though far from riveting, the plot of Shuttle very slowly builds to an incredibly unsatisfactory ending. The premise is all right; people embark on an airport shuttle towards downtown only to discover that they are at the mercy of a psychopath who kidnaps them. What ensues, however, is a pretty by-the-number thriller where there is not one development, plot point or reversal that is unpredictable or surprising in the least. Even a supposedly midpoint twist is totally foreseeable only by the way the main characters are introduced at the beginning. From then on it's merely a long cat and mouse game that loses interest quickly.

Audiences of this type of genre fare are trained to expect a major twist at the end; no such luck here. There is a conclusion but it is neither truly shocking nor original. And to claim that the filmmakers wanted to make any kind of statement about the world and a sad phenomenon with this ending would be easily negated by referring to the sheer exploitative nature of everything that precedes it.

The length is way too indulgent for this material; at least twenty minutes could easily be cut without compromising this story. Shuttle is not without merits though. Acting is surprisingly accomplished throughout, particularly by the two girls, especially in light of the weakness of the material they have to work with. Their backstory, undoubtedly aimed at deepening their characters, is incredibly clichéd and poorly conceived. Directing is top notch, low-budget film-making at its best; again, too bad there is no properly developed screenplay to provide a solid foundation.

On the whole, SHUTTLE is a perverse and mean-spirited motion picture, yet the powerful final moments of the film are truly sensational but diabolical none the less. The movie begins with two weary young women who have just ended their Mexican vacation, and need a ride back to town. They board the airport shuttle bus, and are taken hostage along with the other passengers. How will this divergent group free themselves from their psychotic abductor? The plot is straight-forward to the point of banality, yet here is where the story begins to lose plausibility. The fiendish driver takes them on a late night journey that seems endless and lasts most of the night. It really stretches credulity that no one would notice this out-of-control bus, and it would seem that they would have encountered more traffic if the airport had been located in the wilderness of Alaska. Their malevolent driver is menacing to the extreme, and a maximum of physical and psychological torture is dispatched. It is only in the final few minutes that the true motive for the kidnapping is revealed, and this electrifying final impression of abject loss makes the suspension of believe just about worth it.

If you have seen Taken, then you will notice the similarity of the idea of trafficking. I know that both movies were released in 2008 but I don't know which one came first. However, the similarity in here is only in that point and other than that both movies are different and not to be compared in anyway. I loved both though Taken is much much more better but this doesn't make shuttle a bad movie.

Shuttle has good things about it in terms of getting you wondering what the bus driver will end up doing with the girls. It's not that you don't guess why he kidnapped them but you will wonder what will happen.

Overall, the movie does have bunch of entertaining elements in the plot and though the reviewers probably didn't like the characters, I did like them and they were convincing in some parts. One of the reviewers mentioned the fact that the characters were so stupid and at some points could have easily escaped but this is not true. The other day I was sitting in the hospital waiting for my turn to get into the doctor's office and my laptop was with me. And then I read a sign about what to do if a fire starts and started wondering if a big fire flamed out in the whole place and the only way to save myself is to run fast, What would I do? Would I choose to forget about my heavy bag of laptop and CDs to save my life? and I found it really hard to leave my expensive things behind right away. Things have to really get worse for me to start considering throwing my things away. So this is what usually happens with movies when you find some actions stupid and you can't understand them or find the rationale behind them from the comfort of your seat at home. I find these things true and serve the plot and increase the tension.

Unbelievable, suspenseful, very well made.

The characters' actions-reactions are not credible and the narrative isn't either.

But it's still a good one. I would recommend it to friends. It's a good thriller.

But at times, it seems more like Halloween or these "supernatural" slashers, where the evil character keeps getting up despite being killed over and over and over again. In other words, the suspense is a bit overdone. Too much peanut butter on the slice of bread, trying to chew on it with a dry mouth, if you see what I mean.

But despite the exaggerations, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, so it gets the work done. A solid 6 in my book.

On the surface, 'Shuttle' looks like it's going to be one of those slightly laughable high-concept movies like 'P2' - kids get on the wrong airport shuttle bus and all hell breaks loose. You'd be forgiven for expecting little more than incompetently handled third-rate genre clichés. This is one of those rare instances when you'd be wrong. Defying all the odds, writer/director Edward Anderson manages to craft a tightly structured thriller with a genuine sense of mounting dread and performances well above the norm for straight-to-DVD fodder. He's able to create some sequences of real tension and displays more talent and understanding of the mechanics of suspense than many more experienced directors. I, for one, found the story involving, the protagonists likable, and enough unexpected reveals to keep me guessing 'till the very end as to the true nature of the crime being perpetrated. All in all, 'Shuttle' is a solid horror-thriller that chooses suspense over violence, and does so admirably well for such an inexperienced director. I've no idea what Anderson's been doing in the three years since making this movie, but I hope his evident talents won't go ignored much longer.