MovieChat Forums > Shattered (1991) Discussion > SPOILER! The absurdities that ruin 'Sha...

SPOILER! The absurdities that ruin 'Shattered'

posted 18 years ago by FilmNoirOnline
50 replies | jump to latest

For a good part of this movie, it simply is a beautiful neo-noir. Casting, location, atmosphere - it's all there. However, I cannot get past the absolutely ridiculous ending that <spoiler alert!> has us believe that Dan Merrick is actually Jack Stanton. Merrick goes back to work, goes to see Jenny, the interaction with Klein, all of this and NOBODY seems to notice that "Dan Merrick" has a different voice. A different personality. Different mannerisms. On and on and on. The writer(s)/director thought that by just changing the FACE, they could pull off a believable thriller. No way. It ruined the entire movie and is one of those that implies the audience must be brain dead to fall for all of that. Just a little bit of thought - and you realize you have been HAD. First 1/2 of the movie is an A. The second half (and especially the last quarter): F

[–] Drooch (5333) 2 years ago

Those absurdities didn’t ruin Shattered at all for me. It was clearly a pulpy thriller with borderline soap opera acting and stylised noir aesthetic. You even had daft comedy like a pair of hands grabbing Berenger’s neck only to reveal it’s his friend’s prank way of saying ‘hi’.

It’s simply not going for the kind of seriousness and realism that some of the autists here think it is. Sorry guys, you get no points for spotting absurdities in an absurd film, and I don’t believe the losers claiming that they guessed the twist. As a mystery thriller plays out you entertain all sorts of possibilities - that’s normal, join the club - but you’re asking us to believe you were certain from the off that Berenger would discover his own corpse and learn he is a completely different person? B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T.

Honestly, Hitchcock thrillers aren’t much crazier than this. If he had directed it back in the 50’s people would be hailing this a classic.

Perfectly fun genre flick with zero dead weight, sexy women, Bob Fucking Hoskins, and keeps you guessing. The kind of unapologetic entertaining one-off trashy thriller that Hollywood tragically never makes anymore.