Caso Perigoso

The girl was extremely cute and charming, the 1 or 2 star ratings are a joke, the movies isn't that bad nor the acting. Quick fix for a thriller buzz and beats normal TV.

Sure, this isn't an *amazing* movie, but I don't regret watching it! I just wonder if the director knows someone with trypophobia that they wanted to mess with though because soooooo many backdrops triggered mine LOL.

I feel bad for Malkovich and Grillo having to have this mess on their resume, they both deserve much better. The only other convincing performances was from the lovely Sasha Luss and Ash Santos. Experienced actor Cameron Monaghan seemed bored and barely awake, yet newb actress Lilly Krug performed her heart out as Sky, but was just too much, and came across borderline annoying.

Directing by Luis Prieto was decent although bland, and the cinematography and score were on point. But David Loughery's screenplay was unremarkable and predictable, and had every cliche for this genre. At least the pacing was decent, that the 92 min runtime got to the ending quick enough.

It's an ok one-time watch, even if just to see Malkovich and Grillo having a great time, and/or Lilly Krug, putting some sweet lingerie to good use. It's a generous 6/10 from me.

Plot

A rich divorcee Chris falls in love with a mysterious woman Sky where Chris, ex-wife and his child eventually gets trapped and a desperate fight for survival will most likely ensue.

Cast

Cameron "Gotham" Monaghan, John Malkovich and Frank Grillo.

Verdict

A movie night flick that was picked practically at random otherwise I may never have gotten round to this, in fact I'd never even heard of it.

So let's put it out there, this is not original stuff not even close. You'll predict everything from the outset and it throws you absolutely no surprises at all. Now we've got that damning factor out the way let me say that the journey itself isn't handled that poorly, it's just ruined by the predictability. The cast however are a very inconsistent mix, Grillo is basically Grillo the very same character he plays in everything. Monaghan comes across like he's not trying, Malkovich just has fun with it as if he's not even trying! But Lilly Krug, now she puts in a remarkably performance here and quite frankly steals the whole movie.

Shattered isn't bad, it's just not good either.

Rants

With fantasy, scifi and horror movies you have to suspend a lot of disbelief but with thrillers you shouldn't need to. Our lead must be horrifyingly stupid to fall for what happens, and that in itself is not believable and kills much of the movie for me. Why would you set yourself up for such a fall?

Breakdown

Lilly Krug is excellent Has its moments Stupidly predictable Grillo is just, Grillo.

This is a low-quality movie through and through. Only 5 minutes in does it become laughably bad. As soon as lead actress Lilly Krug begins speaking, it sounds off. I was immediately aware of the audio dubbing and it wouldn't surprise me at all if I found out it was voiced by a different actress.

To make it worse, the dialogue is terrible. A line early on reminded me of The Room with the way it was delivered. There are also a bunch of lines that feel off, as if a non-American was writing for American characters. For example, "I don't live far from here, you can come over to mine." I believe that's English slang, something no American would say. Most commonly it would be, "my place." Another example is, "I've got an admission to make," rather than "I have to admit something."

Now combine the bad audio dubbing and poorly written dialogue with a really bad performance by the lead actress and you have a recipe for disaster. I don't know how much of this is the actress's fault, anyone can give a bad performance if they're directed poorly with a bad script. One thing she does get right is the sex appeal aspect because she is unbelievably attractive.

Other than that, this is a generally terrible movie with tons to make fun of. Especially when characters make huge decisions late in the movie that come out of nowhere, to the point of laughter. There are continuity errors and other random little things. Like Sky wearing the same blouse in three different scenes, as if they were shot back to back but then inserted other scenes in between. Blouse to hot tub to the same blouse to the next day in a different outfit to the same blouse.

It's unfortunate because, if done right, this could have been a fun premise. (1 viewing, 3/13/2022)